OrderBot — Canteen food ordering service

The idea of bringing a conversational agent to the chaotic environment of N5 seemed like a challenge in the beginning. We started thinking of the areas in the campus that needed interaction.

Identifying problems -

The first thing that we thought of was machines that didn’t come with a user manual and would be tough for a person who isn’t used to them to use. We thought of the tools in the workshop, the water cooler, the printer and so on. We then thought of systems that had some kind of glitch — the ID system, the canteen, the floor plans etc.

We came down to two main ideas — an interactive device to help you locate your classroom, and a device to help with the canteen food ordering service. The canteen seemed like something that needed more assistance and needed to be organised.

The current scenario -

The canteen is one of the places with the highest footfall in N5, because very obviously, it’s where we go to get food. Currently, at peak hours, there is an average ratio of 10:1, between the students and the canteen uncle. Each of the students is as much in a rush as the other, and they all want their food as fast as possible. The canteen uncle has to tend to three main jobs — to take orders, to give people the items from the counter and to return the change. We thought about improving the efficiency of the system.

Initial ideas and plans -

Our initial idea stemmed from the generic food delivery apps, where you order your food from your phone, and the order goes to the kitchen directly. However, we realised that that would also be chaotic because then there would be a lot of people at the counter simply asking for their order, and the kitchen would have too much to handle. We even thought of changing the cash system by introducing a card with electronic balance, that the users could swipe at the time of order collection. However, we couldn’t completely substitute the canteen uncle, because the agent was supposed to make his work easier and not completely overpower him. We then decided to make an app — like an interface that sits on the counter itself, to help with taking orders. We saw that the canteen uncle had to even run around the counter to give chocolates, wafers and juices. He even had to collect the money. The only part of his job that we could reduce was taking orders.

Our final idea and how the system works –

After much deliberation, we came up with OrderBot— a conversational interface that takes your order in the N5 canteen. Our system has two main parts — one, a screen with the various options and categories of food that you can choose from, and two, an interactive feature that lets you place your order by simply talking to the machine. We added the interactive feature because using an app adds a certain mechanical touch to the whole thing; when the app is talking to you, it’s closer to the original experience. You navigate through categories, to choose individual food items, and they get added to your order.

At the end, you can even give the machine special instructions that it will pass on to the kitchen. There are two payment methods, cash or Paytm©. The Paytm© option leads you to the QR code that you would generally use to pay for your food, and the cash option generates a unique QR code that leads to your receipt. You show the receipt at the counter, and you can have your food!

-Ananya Rane & Chaitali Dhande