“From payment to dispensing of gol gappas — this machine is entirely contactless,” Govind, who designed and developed this vending machine, said
Gol gappa or pani puri — whatever you may call it — is, undeniably, the most favourite of all street foods in India. People love to eat this deep-fried spicy delicacy in all its varieties. However, some people also remain wary of it due to hygiene concerns.
But, you have no reason to worry anymore as a Delhi man has made a contactless gol gappa vending machine that dispenses these scrumptious water balls without having to touch them.
“From payment to dispensing of gol gappas — this machine is entirely contactless,” Govind, who designed and developed this vending machine, told indianexpress.com.
“It is not just India’s but also the world’s first such machine,” he added.
The machine got viral after Foody Vishal, a blogger, shared a video showing how it works. The machine has prices of gol gappa and vada pav mentioned on a screen. All you have to do is scan the QR code and make the payment. Once the payment is done, the machine will dispense a sealed pack of gol gappas. The pack contains a glass that can be used to fill the flavoured water out of the four available options — sweet, spicy, hing and mix.
Further, Govind informed that everything used to make this machine is developed entirely in India. “From cloud server to the applications and software used in the backend, it’s all made in the country.”
“This machine is not limited to just gol gappa and vada pav. You can use it for almost any dish. This is a versatile machine,” he added.
Govind, who is a robotics engineer and runs a cyber café in Delhi, started working on this machine in 2018. However, due to time constraints, he couldn’t complete it. “With lockdown leaving me with a lot of free time in hand, I started working on it again,”
“The first version of this machine came out in March 2021. It was for testing purposes. It instantly got famous and I started getting a lot of orders. We recently came up with its commercial version that everyone saw.”
The video instantly got viral, amassing over 8 lakh views and numerous reactions.
A user wrote, “They are taking our street food and technology to the next level.”
“Made in India vending machine. What a great invention by Govind Ji. It’s time to change our India by vending machine,” another user commented.
Currently, you can find this machine in two spots in Delhi. One is installed in sector 17, Rohini and another is at Delhi Technological University, Daulatpur. It dispenses gol gappa at Rs 20 and vada pav at Rs 21.
