The GVSU Interdisciplinary Engineering first-year lab faces the issue of excessive hardware acquisition by students, leading to unequal resource distribution for semester projects. Currently, the hardware station allows students to freely take hardware from open bins, causing overconsumption and misplacement of materials. The main problem is the lack of an effective system to track hardware withdrawals and returns.

The goal of this project is to regulate hardware acquisition by implementing a system that tracks the hardware taken and returned by individual students. This will be achieved by developing a vending and sorting machine that operates on a credit-based system. Students will be able to retrieve and return hardware as needed for their projects while receiving credit for returned materials. This initiative aims to reduce hardware waste and ensure a fair distribution of resources among first-year students for their semester projects.