Voice-Based Kiosk for Student Dormitories
Project Contributor
Young Na
Aniket Dwivedi
Nikith Dsouza
Project Description
The voice-based kiosk is based on the idea of providing quick information to student dorm residents and visitors. We believe that having mobile voice-based kiosks at the entrance or on each floor would enable residents to quickly get the information they need without taking up much space in a hallway.
Low Fidelity Prototype
We primarily used cardboard boxes and the screen interface on top uses the various paper prototypes we’d made. To give our kiosk some personality and identity, we added a cute face on the front using colored paper!
After creating the low fidelity prototype, we immediately noticed that having a complete cardboard structure wouldn’t work due to the swivel caster wheels we planned on adding to the high-fidelity prototype. To solve this, we aimed to use a piece of plywood to reinforce the base and provide some much-needed sturdiness to the prototype.
Creating High Fidelity Prototype
Designing Use Cases
Use Case Scenarios
Quick Navigation
User: How do I get to the gym?
Kiosk: The gym is right down the corridor. You should see it on your left!
Restaurant Suggestion
User: What’s a good Sushi place nearby?
Kiosk: According to Yelp, Sushi Bar is 3 minutes away.
Weather Forecast
User: What’s the weather forecast for today?
Kiosk: Today’s forecast indicates cloudy skies with a chance of rain. Carry an umbrella with you!
Event Information
User: Is there a concert happening today?
Kiosk: Drake is performing at Kilroy’s on Kirkwood at 10 pm today.
Maintenance Request
User: My fan doesn’t work. Can I raise a Maintenance Request?
Kiosk: The maintenance staff has been notified. Someone will reach out shortly to help you with your issue.
Live Bus Tracking
User: When’s the next number 9 bus getting here?
Kiosk: According to Google Maps, the next number 9 bus is 5 minutes away.
Business Hour
User: When is Kroger open till?
Kiosk: Kroger is open from 6 AM to 11 pm today.
Screen Interface displaying bus routes
User speaking to kiosk
Conducting Usability Testing with High Fidelity Prototype
We conducted our usability testing with 6 participants who live in the school dorm. The testing and interview were conducted outside a dorm room next to the lobby.
Main Stdy Focus:
How do students communicate with the kiosk (Verbal cues)?
Do they prefer voice or speech-based user interfaces?
Is the screen visible to different users when seated or when standing?
Mobility across the dorm corridors.
Kiosk Physical Design Insights
Most users found the height to be optimal.
In narrow student dorm corridors, it was not taking up much place, thereby not causing any major obstructions to residents walking in them.
The motion was smooth on the various terrains of the dorm, from carpeted floors to marble.
Voice Interface
Users found it easy to talk to. The Voiceflow system was able to correctly identify most sentences.
A few users said it would be ‘weird’ to talk to such a mechanical kiosk in the dorm corridors.
During testing, the voice flow system would end if one scenario was done with. We had not accounted for the fact that users would face issues if they had multiple queries.
We observed that the Voiceflow system had difficulty detecting short one-word responses (Yes, No, OK).
Screen Interface
Users found the screen interface helpful in viewing the information presented by the kiosk; however, most preferred speaking to it.
Users preferred a clean interface, large font, and images.
Some tried tapping on the screen even though the screen was display only.
Miscellaneous
At the end of the interviews, the users suggested other functions that they would find useful.
A notification feature that their food delivery/amazon package was ready to be picked up from the lobby.
A feature to adjust the air conditioning in the corridors.
Information on the menu of the dining hall that day.
