Picking food up from automated “cubbies” I assume that means some kind of cubbyhole.
Everything old is new again. Something like this was done in NYC in the 30s or 40s. It was called the Automat and several of them were still operating in the 50s when I visited NYC. You went down a line like a buffet line and picked your food out of ‘cubbies’ that dispensed prepared dishes not unlike a candy vending machine.
I remember going to one in NYC during the 1970s.