EE Sophomore Dhruva Jindal radiates enthusiasm when discussing his summer internship with Munch Industries. First there are the aspects of the Boba Tea Machine he helped develop. Then there’s the fact that Munch Industries has its origins in Senior Design. Alumni and Munch Industries CEO Nastassja Kuznetsov launched the automatic bubble tea machine two years ago with Team Orble.
“The machine is pilot ready, it’s somewhere between a prototype and a final product,” Jindal explains.
At its core functionality, the vending machine will make fully customizable drinks on demand. According to Jindal, this includes flavors such as Thai, Taro, Milk Tea, and Black Tea. Connoisseurs can choose the sugar level, creamer amount, or ice level.
Getting the Boba Tea machine ready was not without its challenges. The algorithm determines the correct time to cook the boba, Jindal explains. The boba is then cooked, rinsed, and transferred to a storage unit. Inside the storage unit, the “boba is spun and rinsed with water to keep it fresh. Any batch older than four hours is discarded,” Jindal explains, adding, “Boba cannot be stored for more than four hours. It becomes sticky due to starch,” Jindal says, adding, “that’s one of the things we need to account for.”
During his internship, Jindal joined the embedded systems team, where he worked on redesigning the control architecture for the machine. “We transitioned from a single-board setup to a distributed system using multiple STM32 microcontrollers networked with a Raspberry Pi as the central controller,” he explains. This change allowed for greater modularity, scalability, and fault isolation between subsystems. Jindal contributed to developing and debugging firmware using the Zephyr RTOS – a new experience that gave him hands-on exposure to real-time multitasking, device drivers, and inter-process communication. The microcontrollers communicated over a CAN protocol, sending and decoding messages from the Raspberry Pi whenever an order was placed on the machine’s touchscreen interface. “Every order had to be translated into precise commands for each subsystem, from heating water to actuating valves, and the CAN network made that process both fast and reliable,” he explains.
In addition to firmware development, Jindal also worked on reverse engineering several off-the-shelf modules, including an ice dispenser and a commercial cup sealer, to integrate them into the system. “These machines weren’t designed to interface with our controller, so we had to figure out how their internal logic worked,” he says. Using a logic analyzer, Jindal and his team traced signals, identified control inputs, and designed circuits that allowed their custom controller to operate these devices safely and consistently. “It was a fun challenge, almost like hardware detective work,” he adds, reflecting on how the process helped bridge the gap between commercial hardware and the team’s custom automation system.
Jindal’s internship lent itself to both technical and soft skills. “I learned a lot of embedded systems.” But he also learned valuable lessons on working at a startup. The experience inspired him to enroll in EAS 5450 Engineering Entrepreneurship with Prof Jeffery Babin this fall.
When not working, Jindal enjoys playing squash and trying out different restaurants. This summer, while subletting an off-campus apartment for the first time, he also discovered a newfound interest in cooking.
As for the Boba Tea machine’s official unveiling, that will occur at the end of the fall semester or the start of the spring. “The team’s goal is to fix remaining issues and launch the device into controlled, high-traffic locations like the Pennovation building or Venture Lab to gather consumer feedback.”