$300 Cotton Candy Machine Hacked: Owner Rewrote App With AI After Manufacturer Ghosted Him

A used cotton candy vending machine, bought for just $300, has been fully hacked by its owner after the manufacturer ignored his requests to restore account access. The enthusiast, known as Block's Retro Repairs, had to crack the system himself, even though the machine originally cost around $6000.

At first, the vending machine refused to produce cotton candy reliably. The process proved finicky and demanded lengthy adjustments of sensors and temperature settings. After many attempts, the issue was resolved, but another problem remained: as a vending device, it only allowed price changes remotely through a special account, which was still tied to the previous owner.

Despite its custom exterior, the machine runs on Android. An industrial computer board controls stepper drivers and other boards. Through adb, the owner gained access to the Ct Terminal app and the product database on the device's storage. However, modifying the database file had no effect on the interface, stalling the project for months.

After nearly bricking the system and factory resetting the control software, the owner found that this actually improved performance—the machine made cotton candy again. The final solution was to modify the original app. Weak coding skills and a Chinese-language interface pushed him to rely on free AI coding chatbots.

As a result, a custom settings menu was added, allowing price changes without any online access. The machine now runs in a private arcade room, where friends and family can get cotton candy cheaply or even free. Sealing the machine against ants was another notable improvement.