Check out the first Zubio chair massage kiosk (first of hundreds, hopefully) at the San Francisco Shopping Center, on 5th & Market. Schedule a 10 or 20 minute accrupressure massage on the touchscreen and swipe your credit card (it also takes gift and discount cards)!
This is i5labs’ first touchscreen project, and the first ever touchscreen on
Rails! We implement Rails wherever possible and it’s working out fantastically.
The code is base is tight (<2000 LOC) for the functionality we’re
providing, and issues are easy to diagnose.
As with design for the PSP, there are dimensions to creating touchscreen software that make this a different beast than the standard web application. We had to consider software maintenance and updates to multiple kiosks, plans in the event of an internet connection failure, use by non-technical employees, and more. The Zubio specialists need to focus on massages, not on hacking.
How do you keep the process running smoothly? Dummy-proof the system as much as possible. Our startup sequence boots up the computer, starts the server, database, and browser, and then kicks the machine into kiosk mode. All the specialist has to do is press a couple buttons!
A server resides at the kiosk location, which allows it to continue functioning if net access goes down. Software updates to all kiosks originate from a single location. Since remote access to this central server is available, on-site time is minimized.
The hardware for the setup is all off the shelf—making the technology
affordable and accessible. Dell or eMachines are around $300-$400; a USB
credit card reader is less than $50; and a touchscreen runs a few hundred (dependent upon vendor and volume). The most expensive portion of this project is the
expertise required to get the software online the first time. Subsequent
touchscreens setups can cost under $1,500. Cheap!
That’s it from our end about this project. If you’re in the neighborhood,
try a massage—it’s incredible! If you’ve done any similar projects, give me a
holler, I’d love to hear from you.
