Jumbo Candy Dispenser

I designed and built a small candy dispenser shaped like Jumbo, Tufts’ elephant mascot. The goal was to create an interactive, friendly experience that paired mechanical motion with embedded electronics and playful user interaction.

The body and internal structure were designed in Fusion360, then laser cut from acrylic and assembled using press-fit joints and hardware. I modeled the elephant head digitally and hand-painted the final piece for a polished finish.

An Arduino controls a servo motor, LCD display, buttons, and speaker. The dispenser asks the user how their day was, displays custom messages, plays a tune based on their button input, and then asks whether they’d like candy. If they respond yes, the system actuates a servo-controlled gate that releases a few chocolate candies (one of my favorites: Sixlets!) through Jumbo’s trunk and into the user’s hand.