Smoothie meets smart engineering
Fruitful partners with UND students to design and create a frozen beverage vending machine
What if grabbing a fresh and delicious smoothie was as easy as pressing a button?
Teams of UND engineering students have spent the past four years blending innovation with automation to make it work — quite literally.
Fruitful, a startup founded by UND engineering alumnus and MBA graduate Cole Levine, has sponsored a senior design project for the past four years. Students on those teams have been working on a smoothie vending machine that not only delivers custom drinks at the push of a button but showcases what’s possible when entrepreneurial vision meets engineering grit.
The result of a breakthrough in its second year of development by Stephan M. Tjaden, the machine utilizes nitrogen and kegs to keep the fruit fresh. A novel solution, it allows for much more than whipping up fresh fruit smoothies; it also serves slushes, nitro coffee, and margaritas.
“We wanted to be able to offer something unique to the public, while at the same time, preserving fresh smoothies without all the additives seen in other products,” explained Stephan, a 2023 Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering graduate who is now pursuing his Master’s in Electrical Engineering online through UND.
Like many others who had a hand in the project’s development, Stephan emphasizes the power of teamwork. “Without my team at UND, including Jesse Iverson (a fellow UND alumnus responsible for all of the mechanical work), this project would never have been possible.”
But the real question is: are the smoothies any good? Yes, and uniquely so.
“Our nitrogen-infused smoothie is a different taste from any other smoothie,” says Cole. “It’s interesting—think of the flavor and texture of nitro coffees and other beverages.”
“The velvety texture, along with the sweetness of the fruit, gives Nitro Smoothies a taste experience like no other,” describes Stephan.
A Senior Design Expo must-see
The functional, vibrant, vinyl-wrapped prototype—capable of serving smoothies, slushies, margaritas, and nitro coffee—was a highlight of the 2025 Senior Design Expo, drawing curious crowds eager to peek inside and see its inner workings in action.
The Senior Design Expo gives students the spotlight to present projects they’ve worked on for the past year. Expo visitors talked directly with the students, asking about the challenges they faced and the lessons they learned.
“The most important thing I’ve learned from this project is that in the real world things don’t always go the way you expect,” said team member Tanner Kirkeby. “I have learned that you can try as hard as you can to predict what is supposed to happen but unexpected problems will come up. The ability to adapt and solve these unplanned issues is what makes a great engineer.”
Regarding challenges, team member Wyatt Tollefson noted, “Our group came together to overcome the challenge of losing some team members early on in the Fall semester. We were able to fine-tune and correct many issues that arose throughout the year and continuously came together to find the best solution.”
Other expo visitors asked broader questions about automation in our daily lives.
“Automation is rising in popularity for many different things,” explained team member E’anna Won. “Why not bring it into something delicious like a slushie or a smoothie? People find excitement when robotics can be integrated into their lives; it’s like a window into the future and all the innovation that is coming. As a kid, I dreamed of a machine that could serve us with just the push of a button. This vending machine is a step closer to that dream.”
From concept to fruition
A vending machine that could serve exceptionally fresh and delicious smoothies, Cole first dreamed of this idea back in his undergrad days.
“You think of a smoothie vending machine and think of it as a blender with a bunch of fruit containers that ends up somehow pouring out as a smoothie, but that’s not practical,” explained Cole. “We did what we could at first and made a slushy vending machine. I said, ‘That’s great, but what about a real smoothie vending machine?'”
The UND College of Engineering & Mines‘s experiential learning and real-world opportunities — including senior design projects — spoke to his own inventiveness and creativity.
“UND gave me a place to build this project I’ve been dreaming of since 2014,” Levine says. “Fruitful is a product of UND’s engineering and entrepreneurial spirit.”
He recalls passionate and supportive instructors like Dr. Kouhyar Tavakolian, Dr. Dominik Steinhauer, and Dr. Clement Tang. “They believed in me to be a sponsor, which was big for me. And they trusted that the students would gain something from it.”
After earning his B.S. in Electrical Engineering, completing UND’s MBA program alongside his mom and dad, and several years into sponsoring the senior design project to explore his idea, he and his wife Ashleigh are looking forward to seeing the idea come to life.
Looking back at these past years, he’s grateful for how beneficial this partnership has been, especially for the students involved. “It all worked out really well. And they all have jobs now too, and that’s the key, right?”
“Working on this project has helped me prepare for the work force in so many ways,” said E’anna. “Throughout this project, many challenges arose and all I could do was resolve and work through them. This polished my skills of critical thinking, as well as perseverance. This experience was challenging, but I had a lot of fun too.”
Written by Paige Prekker // UND College of Engineering & Mines
