SOI - a Chapati Vending Machine
Nidhi B
University of Nottingham
Chapatis are India’s everyday staple, with over 3.3 billion consumed daily. Unlike bread, they stale within hours, leaving working professionals with dry and brittle homemade chapatis by lunchtime. SOI (सोय) is a chapati vending machine designed for India’s corporate canteens, delivering fresh, hot chapatis from scratch, on demand, 24/7. Users simply tap to order through an intuitive touchscreen, customise their order, pay, and collect their freshly kneaded, pressed, and puffed chapatis in under a minute via colour-coded slots. Built with food-grade materials, patented technologies, NFC-controlled access, and IoT monitoring, SOI prioritises hygiene, reliability, transparency, and efficient maintenance, bringing modern automation to one of India’s oldest everyday foods.