To content

Automats everywhere

The event took place in the winter semester 2012/13.

Organisation

  • Michael Schaten, Rehabilitation Technology (Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences)
  • Students of computer science and rehabilitation science

Content

Information terminals, kiosk systems and vending machines have become an integral part of everyday life for many people and companies. Many companies and service providers use them for public relations alongside websites and paper notices on notice boards. For example, they inform their customers about the next flight at the gate of an airport, advertise their latest product or provide orientation in the form of a wayfinding system. In addition, more and more services are also being replaced in the form of a vending machine: people usually withdraw their cash from an ATM rather than going to a bank employee at the counter. Similarly, tickets and public transport timetables and even prepaid mobile phone cards are now offered in the form of a vending machine.

The main arguments for the use of modern information kiosk systems are primarily financial considerations and the flexibility of the systems. It is usually possible to maintain the systems mentioned remotely, to load them with content and, if necessary, to provide assistance to users - e.g. via audio or video conference.

Automats and people with disabilities

The project

The interdisciplinary project "Implementing the LGG" in the winter semester 2012/13 therefore aims to implement and evaluate an exemplary solution for a barrier-free design of an information kiosk system. The hardware basis of the project will be an information kiosk that has yet to be procured and should be ready by the start of the project. In the future, the information kiosk will be made available to students in the corridor of the department as a "noticeboard" of the Department of Rehabilitation Technology and as an open internet terminal.

Within the framework of the project, the participants will examine the software and hardware of the device on the basis of various technical standards and usability criteria and derive a list of requirements from this, which will define the work to be carried out by the students in the following. Since students of rehabilitation education as well as students of computer science will participate in the project, it is planned to implement some prototypical implementations. These include, for example, a radio control for the height adjustment of the kiosk or the integration of a gesture control (e.g. through the Microsoft Kinect-Cam). In addition, the students will create the content that the information kiosk will display or adapt existing content from the teaching area to the infrastructure of the kiosk.

Finally, an evaluation of the content and the kiosk itself (operation, etc.) is planned with other students of the faculty. The evaluation procedure will be worked out by the students themselves beforehand and carried out independently at the end of the project.

Organisational

The project will run for the complete 6 months of the winter semester, i.e. from 1 October 2012 to 31 March 2013, in order to equalise the workload. The first meeting will take place on 11 September at 14.00 in room 4.444.

The main person responsible for the implementation and contact person for questions is Michael Schaten.