It’s Not Too Late to Build a Candy Dispenser with Your LEGO Mindstorms Kit

For the lazy among us, it’s very tempting to just put a bowl of candy on the porch for the neighborhood kids on Halloween. But, anyone who has been a child knows how that will turn out: some greedy kid will end up dumping the whole bowl in their bag, and there won’t be any left for anyone else. The solution, of course, is to build a machine that dispenses one piece of candy at a time.

Jason Allemann of JK Brickworks built one using what he knows best: LEGO bricks. His Mini Chocolate Machine uses a LEGO Mindstorms EV3 kit, along with bricks from other LEGO kits, to deliver delicious delicacies to demanding children. There is a gravity fed hopper full of candy, and when a hungry kid pushes the button, a piece of candy slides onto the conveyor system.

The conveyor belt then carries the candy along to a waiting skeletal hand, when it can be retrieved by the youngster. Jason can also manually trigger a couple of extra scares with the EV3 remote. A spider can be made to pop out, or the hand can close at the push of a button. Both are sure to give the younger kids a fun jump.

If you’re looking for a last minute Halloween project and have a LEGO EV3 kit laying around, you could probably build something like this in time for the festivities tomorrow. Just be sure to keep an eye on those roving rascals, so they don’t go grabbing all candy from the hopper.