ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 20 -- United States Patent no. 12,394,001, issued on Aug. 19.
"Cloud-based contactless vending machine" was invented by Bahar Ahmadi (Irvine, Calif.) and Maryam Etminan (Irvine, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A vending machine has an essentially cylindrical body with a liquid meal mixing and dispensing assembly, an automated lid assembly, an automated straw dispensing assembly, and a voice recognition component. A server connects to the vending machine over a network, the server having memory for storing computer instructions and a processor for executing the computer instructions, the computer instructions including instructions for implementing an ingredients re...