Bot Tracks Whether Ice Cream Machines Are Working At McDonald's Across US

A software engineer has created a bot which tracks whether ice cream machines are working at McDonald's restaurants across the US.

Rashiq Zahid was inspired in the summer after he went to pick up a McSundae from a Maccies in Berlin, only to find the machine was broken.

PA

His solution is McBroken, a site which displays a map of the US with every Maccies marked on with either a green dot or a red dot - green means the ice cream machine is working, red means it isn't.

It knows this thanks to Rashiq's bot, which places an order for a McSundae at every restaurant every 30 minutes minutes via the McDonald's mobile app.

The app doesn't allow you to add ice cream products to your basket if the machine at the restaurant isn't working - as such, McBroken allows you to see where you'll be able to grab a McFlurry near you.

McBroken

The bot places $18,752 (£14,374) worth of ice cream orders every half an hour, though none of these orders are actually placed and no ice cream gets wasted.

Rashiq originally tried to place the orders every minute, but the app detected this was the ordering behaviour of a bot.

McBroken also provides a breakdown of the overall ice cream machine functionality across the country; for example, 11.06 percent of the machines in the country are currently broken, according to McBroken.

Speaking to The Verge, 24-year-old Rashiq said: "I was like, this would be pretty interesting for Germany, but it would be amazing for the US, which is basically the capital of McDonald's

"I just made it for fun, but people were like, 'Wow, this is the best thing I've seen this entire week.'"

Rashiq even earned the praise of David Tovar, McDonald's VP of US Communications.

He tweeted: "Only a true McDonald's fan would go to these lengths to help customers get our delicious ice cream! So, thanks!

"We know we have some opportunities to consistently satisfy even more customers with sweet treats and we will."

Bravo Rashiq, bravo.

Topics: Food, Awesome, McDonald’s, US News, Technology

Jake Massey

Jake Massey is a journalist at LADbible. He graduated from Newcastle University, where he learnt a bit about media and a lot about living without heating. After spending a few years in Australia and New Zealand, Jake secured a role at an obscure radio station in Norwich, inadvertently becoming a real-life Alan Partridge in the process. From there, Jake became a reporter at the Eastern Daily Press. Jake enjoys playing football, listening to music and writing about himself in the third person.

@jakesmassey