Vale Automated Matcha Machine

Vale is building a matcha beverage company designed to scale into offices, apartment buildings, and other spaces a traditional cafe can't reach. The task was to create a user experience that invoked a local coffee kiosk, delivering premium, made-to-order drinks without feeling anything like a vending machine.

Mixer designed and engineered the exterior housing, the drink-delivery portals, and the user experience, from maintenance access and restocks to the final customer pickup. We partnered with Deaton Engineering, who developed the interior systems and robotics, from day one. The experience a customer sees and the machine that produces it are the same designed object, so the two had to be developed in concert.

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Vale Automated Matcha Machine
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Luke Larson, founder and CEO of Vale, with one of the company’s automated matcha dispenser units in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

Luke Larson, founder and CEO of Vale, with one of the company’s automated matcha dispenser units in Seattle’s Pioneer Square neighborhood. (GeekWire Photo / Kurt Schlosser)

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A freshly made matcha latte sitting in the Vale machine pickup portal
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Prototype Unit Assembly
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Pickup Portal Assembly
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Mechanical Engineering Drawing of Front Panel
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Closeup of the Vale Matcha Machine UX