Download Luan Nguyen cs160-ay - People @ EECS at UC Berkeley

Luan Nguyen cs160-ay
Chau Le cs160-br
Dustin Preisler cs160-bg
Ali Memarsadeghi cs 160-bf
CS 160 Project Proposal – Group 8
Problem/Idea
Bars are an important part of many people’s lives. They are a place to go to
forget about your worries, chat with friends, and have a few drinks. While they should be
a stress free place for simply relaxing, bars often times get very crowded as everybody is
in a rush to get as many drinks as fast as possible. This phenomenon can be seen every
Tuesday night at Henry’s in Berkeley. Most people find themselves in the never-ending
cycle of fighting to get to the front of the line to buy a drink, quickly finishing the drink,
and waiting once again for the next drink. Nobody enjoys waiting in line. Everybody
would much prefer to chat with friends or stare at the opposite sex rather than try to look
cool while being frustrated waiting for a drink.
We propose the creation of kiosks serving as electronic waiters/bartenders
dispersed throughout tables at a bar which patrons could use to order their drinks. This
kiosk would eliminate the need to wait in line for ordering drinks. Customers can choose
from the list of available drinks or order their own creation. Payment for the drinks can
be handled by credit card or a tab can be maintained which can be paid at the end of the
night. This kiosk can also offer entertainment with games, but its main objective would
be handle drink orders and deliver them to the bartenders mixing the drinks.
Analysis
While we do believe waiting in line is a significant problem in bars, there are
many aspects of a bar that make it appealing which we do not want to change. The
following should remain unchanged:
- The personal delivery of drinks
- The product itself, i.e. people are still getting the same drinks they were getting
before
- The bar atmosphere. We just want to get rid of the line. We do not want to
eliminate all communication which occurs in a bar. The attraction of a bar is the
social interaction which occurs. We are providing this service to allow more time
for this social interaction, not eliminate it.
We hope to have the following effects by introducing this kiosk system:
- Eliminate lines.
- Eliminate wandering waitresses looking for orders.
- Relieve the customer of time pressure when deciding what to order
- Reduce time between reordering by not only eliminating lines but also making the
reordering of drinks even faster with the kiosk as it remembers your previous
order.
We risk these pitfalls in introducing this new system:
- Customers are averse to using a machine and fail to utilize the technology
- The screen/table may get dirty, causing customers to want to avoid touching the
screen
- The system may be too inflexible for customers who want to make special
requests or complaints.
- The system may not be easy enough for the drunk bar patron to use.
- The system may be too static for people who want to move around and socialize
while waiting for their drink.
Other Key Features/High Level Details











Each kiosk will have an identification number so that orders submitted will be
tagged with an identifier for which table ordered the drink.
The interface will be a touch screen preferably built into the tables which can
withstand spills and accidents which the drunken customer is likely to commit.
The interface will be large and extremely simple as the inebriated individual is
likely to have a hard time trying to master anything complex. A power user
probably doesn’t exist in this situation.
User can easily pay with credit card by either swiping their card or inputting their
credit card number. Cash payment would be handled by the person delivering the
drink.
User can be given an estimated time till arrival for his drink which is based on the
order’s position on the queue.
Common drinks will have short cut buttons, while options will exist for the user
to specify his own drink and preferences.
User can cancel order at any time, even after ordering.
User can notify of change in location of bar.
User can play different games against other patrons on the computer for
entertainment while waiting.
Popular drinks can be suggested and promoted on the touch screen.
Notification when drinks are ready for bars which do not want to deliver the
drinks to the tables.
Experiment
To test this kiosk/waiter system, we will take a large group of 50-100 people and
rent out a bar on two separate occasions. For the first time, we will provide them with a
normal bar experience without the help of our kiosk to speed drink orders. We will
simply monitor wait times and their general satisfaction with the entire experience. For
the second bar session we will provide our kiosk interface and monitor wait times. We
will also track the usability of the kiosk and the overall satisfaction of the bartenders,
waiters, and customers.
We will talk to two different segments of people in our research and
experimentation. The first group will be the regular bar users. We will ask them
questions such as
- What do you like about going to the bar?
- What do you like about having a waitress or bartender to order from?
- What about wait times?
- Is it easy to order a drink?
- How much do you move around in a bar?
- If you didn’t have to would you still want to move around?
- Do you usually pay by cash or open a tab?
We will also interview users of other menu oriented/touch screen kiosks to get an
idea of what types of interfaces are easiest to use. We will ask them what they like and
dislike about interfaces they use such as
- ATM's
- Informational Kiosks, i.e. businesses / malls
- Tele-bears touch screen registration in Sproul Hall