No Queue Kiosk | Devpost

Inspiration

Some restaurants have cashiers that you have to walk up to in order to order food, which could be annoying, especially with a long line. On the other hand, restaurants that let you sit down immediately have waiters that do not know exactly when you are ready to order, adding even more waiting to a process that should be quick and easy. Imagine having best of both worlds...

What it does

A device is placed at every table that allows the customers to order their food whenever their ready; no need to wait for waiters or stand in lines

How we built it

We use html and javascript for the frontend, to create a simple and intuitive UI. The user can talk to the device, as if they are talking to another person, making the process straight forward and quick. The frontend takes care of the speech to text, the text is then sent to the backend. The backend is written mainly python, since it allows for an easy manipulation of data and most of our team knew how to use it well. The backend takes what the costumer said and converts it into a command that can be sent back to the frontend, so the UI can be updated based on what the customer said. This cycle continues until the customer is done with their order and can then press a button on the UI to submit their order.

Challenges we ran into

Communicating between server and frontend Conversation AI LSTM model Creating a responsive UI

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Ease of use Custom natural language processing

What we learned

Python Javascript React Tornado GraphQL Chatterbot

What's next for No Queue Kiosk

Adding a recommended food feature, similar to what Amazon and Youtube has, to help customers decide faster and maybe even entice them into buying more food than they originally planned ;) This recommendation feature will use previous customer data to predict what food/drink would go well with what the current customer has already ordered.