MooBella, the robotic ice cream dispenser

We love us some ice cream, so a robotic ice cream vending machine that does us up some mix-ins all automatic-like really can't go far wrong in our books. MooBella is showing off just such a contraption at DEMO, which makes every scoop of ice cream "right on the spot" with 12 flavors to choose from and 3 mix-ins to toss in as well. They've got us convinced, and we're pretty sure one of these MooBella yum dispensers will find quite a happy home in the Engadget HQ.

[Via News.blog]

[Kyle @ Feb 7th 2006 1:34PM]

We love us some ice cream? WTF?

[Otaqueen @ Feb 7th 2006 1:39PM]

Want eat... Now...

[Johnathan @ Feb 7th 2006 1:42PM]

Apparently MooBella is using some neat monitoring technology created by Cantaloupe Systems. You can check it out at http://www.cantaloupesys.com

[Michael @ Feb 7th 2006 1:46PM]

Sounds pretty cool (no pun intended).
Like a Baskin Robins without the clerk...
But, no free samples.

[Revrant @ Feb 7th 2006 1:53PM]

"Quick. Fresh. Now. Wow!"? ... Okay then, well, anyhow, looks like a cheap solution to age old problem -

"Mommy, America isn't gaining enough weight, how do I help?"

Well little Timmy, now you can!

With MooBella's new ice cream dispenser *you'll* be the one going moo in no time!

[EJN @ Feb 7th 2006 2:10PM]

We have one of these machines at the university I go to. The ice cream doesn't taste bad, but the texture is really weird, and it's no match for real ice cream.

Oh, and they had test runs of these machines at the Boston Museum of Science.

[Matt @ Feb 7th 2006 2:13PM]

Cool one!

[Colin Nickels @ Feb 7th 2006 2:16PM]

I attend Brandeis University and we just recently got one of these machines in our campus convience store. I personally have never tried the stuff, being too suspicious of thier claims of having the best ice cream I have ever tasted, but many of my friends have and they all seem to enjoy it.
It is probably the best food on campus. (which should be read as we have really bad food on campus)

[tim @ Feb 7th 2006 2:42PM]

my name is Tim I'm a citizen of the United States; I'm 6'5" a 215lbs and have 7 percent body-fat and eat ice cream everyday.

[limit @ Feb 7th 2006 2:57PM]

At Cal Poly in Pomona they have a homebrew robot (vacuum, dorm room freezer, pneumatic arm, odd bits) that functions as a is coin operated ice cream sandwich vending machine.

Put in money, freezer pops open, pneumatic arm goes into freezer, vacuum grips a ice cream, etc. It is awesome...

[IK47 @ Feb 7th 2006 3:57PM]

gotta suck when the flavour tank has run out, and all you get is a white ball of ice.

[TevK @ Feb 7th 2006 4:27PM]

We got one of these 6 months or so back in the sundry shop at the office where I work...

The icecream is ok, but weirdly smooth.

My main objection was that they replaced the soft-serve frozen yogurt machine with the Moobella machine. The Moobella machine was more expensive (I believe it was $2 or $2.50 vs. the frozen yogurt, which was sold by weight, so an equivalent amount was about $1) plus it is higher in calories and fat. The frozen yogurt area also had lots of dishes of candy for mixing in, while the Mobella machine only had 3 or so mix-ins available.

The machine was also slow to reset between users, so if a lot of people wanted icecream, the line would move slowly (and clog up the sundry shop, since it was a small space to begin with).

I did see the machine getting rebooted at one point, and it looked like it was running Linux.

In the end, I guess it wasn't very successful, since they ended up taking it away after a couple months.

So now we don't have icecream OR frozen yogurt. =(

[Revrant @ Feb 7th 2006 4:36PM]

7%? Golly that's healthy, good luck on that heart condition Tim.

Anywhere we can find what ingredients this thing uses? Judging by the comments describing it I'm guessing it's packed full of preservatives.

[raindog @ Feb 7th 2006 4:59PM]

Actually, Revrant, 7% body fat is in the 0th percentile, meaning at least 99.5% of Americans are fatter than him, and his body mass index is also in the 0th percentile, meaning at least 99.5% of Americans who are his height have a higher body mass.

Assuming Tim didn't just make up those numbers (on the Internet, no one knows you're a bowling ball), he is way buffer than the Governator, never mind you and me.

Back on topic, there have been a number of ice cream shops opening around here lately who make "homemade ice cream" that I suspect is much like this stuff: overly smooth, almost plasticky, and available in any number of flavors with any numbers of mix-ins. The common themes seem to be (a) ice cream machine in the back, and (b) the ice cream itself is put in those broad, flat buffet serving trays.

I would rather have soft-serve than these new "homemade" ice creams.

[Revrant @ Feb 7th 2006 5:59PM]

Never heard of big buff guys dropping over dead from heart complications? Despite what most of us Americans are told, it's just as unhealthy, if not more so, than being obese, it's all about the demand on the heart.

Never been a fan of the cheap stuff, which makes me wonder just what's in this MooBella stuff as it sounds even cheaper, much like Minute Fudge, I wouldn't touch it, I'll stick with real homemade ice cream. There really isn't more information on this yet? I'd want to know what's in it before it was approved for mass-use.

[Shadyman @ Feb 7th 2006 6:20PM]

> At Cal Poly in Pomona they have a homebrew robot (vacuum, dorm room freezer, pneumatic arm, odd bits) that functions as a is coin operated ice cream sandwich vending machine.

We had one of those in high school. It'd been there since probably about 1999.

[granny down east @ Feb 7th 2006 8:15PM]

Now if they would just make one that dispensed popcorn shrimp.

[MooBella @ Feb 7th 2006 9:11PM]

A friend of mine works for the engineering company that is building this. I have had it, and it is really that good.

It has passed food safety testing, so no worries on the product. It is cheaper because of the distribution model; ship @ room temperature and stored @ room temp instead of in freezers.

[tim @ Feb 7th 2006 11:52PM]

I'm a collegial men's singles rower.

[Chuck Norris @ Feb 8th 2006 9:37AM]

Im Chuck Norris, im 10 feet tall and weigh 900 pounds with zero percent body fat. I eat 400 pounds of ice cream and then 600 pounds of steak every day. Take that, TIM!

[Revrant @ Feb 8th 2006 1:46PM]

*Wipes Chuck's mouth with a bib* How did you get away from your Walker Chucky?