Automated beverage dispensing machines

1. A beverage dispensing machine comprising:

a conveyor that carries a plurality of cup holders around a track having a front side oriented towards a front of the beverage dispensing machine and a back side oriented towards a back of the beverage machine, wherein the front side provides a plurality of beverage staging positions that are accessible by an operator to manually remove cups from the plurality of cup holders;

a cup tower configured to hold a plurality of stacks of cups and to place cups from the plurality of stacks of cups into the plurality of cup holders;

a dispensing nozzle configured to dispense a beverage into the cups in the plurality of cup holders;

a plurality of dispensing valves configured to control flow of the beverage to the dispensing nozzle;

a computer controller configured to control movement of the conveyor, control movement of a cup grabber into and between the lowered position and raised position, and control the plurality of dispensing valves to dispense the beverage via the dispensing nozzle; and

an ultrasonic sensor that senses whether a cup is present in a respective cup holder of the plurality of cup holders when the respective cup holder is adjacent the ultrasonic sensor, and wherein the computer controller is configured to control the conveyor based in part upon an output from the ultrasonic sensor, wherein the ultrasonic sensor senses whether a cup is present in the respective cup holder through a window in a sidewall of the cup holder.

2. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , further comprising a user interface configured to receive manual inputs from the operator and communicate the manual inputs to the computer controller, which in turn is configured to control the movement of the conveyor, the movement of the cup grabber, and the plurality of dispensing valves based on the manual inputs; wherein the user interface comprises a touchscreen providing an animated graphical representation of the plurality of beverage staging positions and the cups in the plurality of cup holders as the computer controller controls movement of the conveyor and as the operator manually removes the cups from the plurality of cup holders.

3. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer controller comprises a motion control module configured to send operational control signals to the conveyor to thereby cause the conveyor to move the plurality of cup holders and to receive signals from the ultrasonic sensor corresponding to presence of a cup in one of the plurality of cup holders.

4. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , wherein each cup holder in the plurality of cup holders comprises a base, a sidewall extending upwardly from the base, and the window is a front window formed in the sidewall and having an open top, wherein the front window is oriented away from a center of the track, the front window oriented and sized to facilitate manual grasping and removal of a cup from the cup holder when the cup holder is located on the front side of the track.

5. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 4 , wherein each cup holder further comprises a rear window oriented towards a center of the track and having an open top, wherein the rear window facilitates manual access to a connection point between the cup holder and the conveyor.

6. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 5 , wherein the rear window is located directly opposite the front window so that the sidewall forms a pair of side flanges on opposite sides of the cup holder.

7. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 6 , further wherein the conveyor comprises a conveyor belt that extends around the track, and wherein each cup holder is connected to the conveyor belt by a dovetail connection.

8. The beverage dispensing machine according to 7 , wherein the dovetail connection comprises a vertical dovetail channel and a vertical dovetail tab that is received in the vertical dovetail channel by manually sliding one of the vertical dovetail channel and vertical dovetail tab with respect to the other of the vertical dovetail channel and vertical dovetail tab.

9. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the ultrasonic sensor is spaced apart from the conveyor so that a gap exists between the sensor and the track and wherein the ultrasonic sensor is configured to repeatedly emit ultrasonic waves to sense whether a cup is present in one of the plurality of cup holders.

10. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 9 , wherein the ultrasonic sensor is configured to repeatedly sense whether a cup is present in one of the plurality of cup holders to rule out a false reading caused by an obstruction located in the gap between the sensor and the track.

11. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the computer controller is configured to receive order signals related to ordered beverages and place the order signals in a queue in order of receipt by the computer controller, and wherein thereafter the computer controller is configured to control the plurality of dispensing valves to dispense beverages according to the order signals and in order according to the queue.

12. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 11 , wherein the computer controller is configured to receive a priority order signals and place the priority order signal ahead of the plurality of order signals in the queue for priority dispensing.

13. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 11 , wherein the computer controller is configured to assign origination codes to the order signals and display the origination codes on a user interface.

14. The beverage dispensing machine according to claim 1 , wherein the back side of the conveyor comprises a plurality of forming positions in which the beverage and ice are dispensed to the cups.