When Corina Chen (M&T’28) began working with Munch Industries during her freshman year, the company was still an early stage born from a senior design project. Two years later, with support from the M&T Intern Fellowship Award, Corina returned to the startup for the summer of 2025 to help scale its first product, Orble – a fully automated boba machine designed to transform how food and beverages are prepared and delivered. What began as a classroom concept has grown into a real-world pilot on Penn’s campus, reflecting both Munch’s rapid progress and Corina’s passion for building at the intersection of engineering and entrepreneurship. In the below Q&A, Corina talks about her summer experience, the value of working for a startup, and her plans for the future.
Q: Can you tell me a little bit about Munch does?
CC: Munch Industries is a startup focused on automating the preparation of popular food and beverages using robotics. Our goal is to take processes that normally require trained staff and streamline them into compact 3×3-foot modules that can be placed almost anywhere: apartment lobbies, dorm buildings, transit stations, hospitals, and other high-traffic locations.
Our first product is Orble, a fully automated machine that prepares boba tea and coffee drinks. It integrates modules for cooking tapioca pearls fresh, mixing drinks, and dispensing orders autonomously. We just launched our first pilot in the Penn Engineering building, which is an exciting milestone after working on the technology for the past couple of years.
Q: What motivated you to apply for the Intern Fellowship Award?
CC: I’ve always had a strong interest in entrepreneurship, and as an M&T student majoring in mechanical engineering and management, I’m especially interested in developing physical products – where engineering, manufacturing, and business strategy intersect.
I began working on Munch during my freshman year, and the Intern Fellowship Award gave me the opportunity to dedicate time to working on it over the summer to really push it forward. It made a huge difference and I’m incredibly grateful for the support because it allowed me to keep building something I genuinely care about.
Q: What were your main responsibilities at Munch over the summer?
CC: I primarily served as CTO, overseeing the mechanical development of the machine and coordinating closely with the embedded and electrical systems that control it.
Because we’re a small team, everyone has a lot of ownership over their work, which is
Something I really valued. I designed and developed several key subsystems, including the water intake and routing system, the machine chassis and casing, a tapioca storage and dispensing mechanism, and the overall system mapping that connects customer orders to the physical mechanisms that produce each drink.
Working in such an early-stage environment meant that every design decision had a direct impact on the final product, which made the work both challenging and incredibly rewarding.
Q: What did you find most valuable about working at a startup?
CC: One of the most valuable parts of the experience was learning how to be resourceful and adaptable. In a startup, there isn’t always a clear playbook. You have to figure things out quickly and be willing to step outside your formal role.
Beyond engineering, I helped with everything from renovating our small R&D office to manage inventory and assisting with promotion and outreach. Wearing so many different hats gave me a much better understanding of how engineering decisions connect to the business side of a company.
That combination of technical problem-solving with entrepreneurial thinking is exactly what excites me about startups.
Q: What was your favorite part of the fellowship?
CC: One of my favorite parts of the summer was how close-knit the team became. Our R&D office is located in South Philadelphia, so on days when the weather was nice, we would walk together to Passyunk Avenue for lunch and spend time talking about the product, new ideas, or sometimes, anything other than work.
What I enjoy about startups is that it isn’t just about building a product; it’s also about the people you’re building it with. I walked away from the summer with technical growth as well as new friendships and fond memories working together as a team.
Q: What are your plans for summer 2026, and how has this experience shaped them?
CC: I hope to continue working on the startup, but with a greater focus on business growth and product scaling. The work we accomplished last summer, made possible by the Intern Fellowship Award, helped us launch our first pilot at Penn. That milestone feels like the beginning of the next phase for the company. I’m excited to build on that momentum, expand the product, and continue growing both technically and as an entrepreneur.