Touch Screen Drive-Thru
Interface
SYS 323 – Human Machine Interface
Group # 9 Final Report
Eudiamonea Inc.
Members
Colin Thomas
Julia Fleming
Fernando Hannaka
Linda (Hye-Won) Song
Michelle Wong
Date Submitted December 5, 2001
Solve problems with creative minds.
Eudiamonea, Inc.
Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Table of Contents
Project Team Members .................................................................................................... 2
Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 2
Project Goals ..................................................................................................................... 2
Intended Users ................................................................................................................... 3
Intended Functionality ..................................................................................................... 3
Background research/market assessment....................................................................... 4
Intended Platform ............................................................................................................. 5
Prototype Development .................................................................................................... 5
Program Functionality ..................................................................................................... 5
Main Order Screen .......................................................................................................... 6
Changing the Order ....................................................................................................... 10
Confirming the Order .................................................................................................... 10
Usability Test Results and Changes .............................................................................. 11
Future Steps ..................................................................................................................... 12
Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 13
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Eudiamonea, Inc.
Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Project Team Members
Eudiamonea, Inc.
Colin Thomas
Julia Fleming
Fernando Hannaka
Linda (Hye-Won) Song
Michelle Wong
Introduction
The Department of System and Information Engineering at the University of
Virginia contracted Eudiamonea, Inc. to improve existing services that use or may use
electronic systems. We, the members of Eudiamonea, Inc., carried out background
research in many different fields, such as automotive, culinary, and entertainment, to find
possible areas of improvement. Our team decided that the current drive-thru service
needs better efficiency. This could be accomplished by using a touch screen interface
instead of the current voice system. This report will cover the goals, background
research, functionality, prototyping, usability testing, implementation, and future steps in
the design process of the new drive-thru interface.
Project Goals
Eudiamonea recognized the need to improve the process of ordering food at a
drive-thru window of a fast food restaurant. The current drive-thru system has several
drawbacks that our team tries to mitigate and will allow customers to have direct control
over making and changing their orders. The team decided to implement a touch screen
interface drive-thru system with the ultimate goal of providing users with a food-ordering
interface that is consistent, intuitive and easy to use.
With the current drive-thru system, consumers need to speak through an intercom
to place their order. Miscommunication between the customer and the server can cause
erroneous orders and confusion, in addition to the fact that people may feel self-conscious
when speaking to a box. The new drive-thru interface eliminates these problems. The
drive-thru interface also attempts to improve the ordering speed. Present systems require
that a server be present to take an order. Often times, a driver must wait for a server to
appear, resulting in inefficiency. With our computer drive-thru interface, drivers can
automatically begin ordering food without the need to wait for a server.
Our system can be implemented in any restaurant that offers a drive-thru service.
For this project, our team decided to use McDonald’s as the restaurant because of its
recognition and well-known drive-thru service. Therefore, the following pages will
describe the design process, implementation, problems and advantages of the
McDonald’s drive-thru interface; nevertheless, all these aspects could apply to any other
restaurant.
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Intended Users
McDonald's is the largest and best-known global food service retailer with about
28,000 restaurants in 121 countries, serving 45 million customers each day
(http://www.mcdonalds.com/corporate/index.htm). The intended users for our drive-thru
system are novice and casual users who are able to drive (age over 16 in the U.S), and
seek quick quality service restaurant. Our system is developed to accommodate people
with all different levels of knowledge in computerized systems. Since McDonald’s is
very popular in many different countries, our intended users are spread all over the world.
Intended Functionality
The drive-thru interface is designed to provide customers everything they need to
order their food. Note that users must still pay and pick up their order at the window. The
following gives an explanation of what our systems allows the user to do.

Two Screens
The drive-thru system will have two screens. One screen will show a read-only
current order and balance due; this is the “Current Order” screen. The second screen
is a ‘touch screen’ that allows users to place, change, start over, and submit their
order. This is the “Order” screen.

Real-time updates
As customers perform their orders, the read-only “Current Order” screen will
automatically update the balance due, and list the food item ordered, along with any
customizations. Customers will be able to see these changes and updates as they are
being made on the screen.

Cancellations
Our system allows users to cancel any particular item they have ordered and also
allows users to omit any condiments they do not wish to be included in their meal.
Users can also add back a condiment after they have cancelled it

Accessing the “Current Order” screen
Users can modify their orders by accessing the “Current Order” screen through the
“Change Order” button located on the bottom of the screen. By touching this icon,
the information from the “Current Order” screen will appear on the “Order” screen,
where the user can now perform activities such as canceling or changing food items.

Order Screen
The majority of the ordering process occurs on this screen. The menu options that the
fast food restaurant provides will be listed under different categories across the top of
the screen. To prevent users from having trouble finding food items, the menu items
are grouped under different food groups, in addition to other options such as
“Combos” and “Desserts.” The bottom row of the screen will allow users to submit
final order, access the “Change Order” screen, start over, and even ask for assistance.
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Both the top and bottom row icons will be visible throughout the ordering process.
These buttons provide quick and easy navigation through the system. They also give a
point of reference to prevent the user from getting lost. As users select the menu
options, the center of the screen will display pictures of the food item, along with the
food name and price, under the chosen category. Touching an item’s “Add to my
order” button allows users to add that item. Our system enables the user to select the
size of the food item, and if relevant, the flavour of the food item (for example, Coke
vs. Sprite). If users ever forget to select any of the above, a window will appear
reminding them to select what they forgot.

Help Instructions
Eudiamonea is aware that not everyone is familiar with how to use a computer
interface, and thus, an assistance button is provided to allow users to speak with
someone working inside the restaurant for help. Secondly, step-by-step instructions
appear on the bottom of the screen to help direct the user, especially those using the
interface for the first time.

Submit Order
When users are ready to submit their order, all they need to do is touch the “Submit
Order” button. A final screen will appear informing them to drive around to pay and
pick up their order.

Languages
The system will be available in both English and Spanish. The user selects the
language at the start.
Background research/market assessment
Before the system was implemented, our team conducted research to see if other
companies currently use fast food systems such as the Eudiamonea designed. It was
found out that a gas company, Sheetz, implemented a similar system to expedite food
order in its convenience store. Other models and ideas that were used in implementation
of our interface were the drive-thru ATM machines.
Additional research also revealed that 65% of McDonald’s businesses come in
through drive-thru
(Source:http://members.bianca.com/mthreads/laydee/posts/98/02/27/33438.html),
highlighting the need for an efficient and user-friendly ordering interface. Possible
research that would have been conducted was a survey of food items that customers at a
particular restaurant prefer. This would have allowed us to group favoured items in
distinct or visible areas. Because the model restaurant was McDonald’s, Eudiamonea had
a general idea of the most common foods ordered. If another restaurant wanted to use
this system, the team would have conducted research in the form of a consumer survey to
strategically place well selling items.
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Intended Platform
The drive thru interface is designed to be installed locally at each restaurant that
would choose to use it. Although the interface could be modified for various other
platforms (web, palm etc.) it is unlikely that such a modification would be profitable
given the intended use of the program.
Prototype Development
Eudiamonea chose to create the new drive-thru interface using Microsoft Visual
Basic Studio because the interface mainly consists of graphics and buttons for which
Visual Basic was especially designed. The new drive thru interface is designed to run on
a local computer at each individual restaurant, so the team chose Visual Basic over webbased languages with similar capabilities. The graphics that appear in the interface were
obtained from various commercial websites. In the event that this system is publicly
implemented, permission must be obtained to use these graphics.
Development of the current prototype occurred over several months. The team
began by brainstorming various problematic interfaces it had encountered in everyday
life and possible improvements to these. Upon the team’s decision to pursue the drivethru ordering interface individual members storyboarded their images of the new system,
and the team together culled from these ideas the initial components of its first prototype.
The team began coding an evolutionary prototype rather than committing more
time to further storyboarding because of the ease at which the prototype could be created
in Visual Basic. This prototype was tested by team members over a period of weeks and
improved in areas that the team deemed unclear or difficult to use. Subjects outside of
the team then tested this prototype and further improvements were made. The final
prototype presented with this report is the result of multiple iterations of testing and
redevelopment.
Program Functionality
Start Up
At start up, the user is greeted by a welcome message and two language options
on the Order screen. [In the actual executable, another button is present. This button is
used to view the read-only Current Order screen and is for demonstration purposes only.]
The read-only Current Order screen is located to the right of the Order screen and is
angled toward the user for better visibility. To continue forward in the program, the user
selects one of the two language options: “English” or “Espańol”. Once the user selects a
language, the main order screen is displayed. [In the executable, selecting “Espańol” will
only change the captions on the category buttons, the function buttons, and the initial
directions in the main window.]
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Main Order Screen
The Main Order screen is divided into 4 parts: the main window, the category
buttons (at the top), the function buttons (at the bottom), and the instructions (which are
located between the main window and the function buttons). There are 7 category
buttons, representing the different types of items that can be ordered. The number and
labeling of the category buttons could be changed to fit the needs of the particular fast
food chain that is buying the system. There are four category buttons at the bottom: Start
Over, Assistance, Change Order, and Finished Ordering. The Start Over button is
provided to allow the user to completely start over in case the order has become
completely messed up or the wrong language was selected. Assistance activates the
intercom and allows verbal aid to be given to those users who might need or want it.
Change Order activates the Change Order screen and Finished Ordering activates the
Confirm Order screen. The category and function buttons stay the same throughout the
ordering process, allowing easy navigation and continuity throughout the system. The
parts of the Main Order screen are the main window and instructions.
The Main Window: The main window is the portion of the Main Order screen where the
different food items are displayed. Initially, however, no items are displayed; the user is
given the initial instructions for finding items:
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Once the user selects a category, the food items for that category are displayed and the
button for that category is highlighted to inform the user which category has been
selected:
For each item, its name, price, and picture are displayed. For items that have multiple
prices (those with different sizes), the different prices are separated by slashes. Each item
also has a button labeled “ADD to my order” below it. To add an item, its associated
button is pressed. Doing so brings up the item’s Add screen:
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
The order screen has a number of different options to select from, depending on which
item it is. In the case of the McFlurry, the user selects the flavor and the size. To add the
item, “Add Item to Order” is selected; pressing “Cancel Without Adding” will close the
window without adding the item. If the user presses the add button without selecting a
size and a flavor, an error message that tells the user to select a size or flavor (whichever
was omitted) is displayed.
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
The order screens for sandwiches are different in that the user can select the desired
toppings and condiments:
In order to leave off a condiment, its associated button is pressed. The button is then
highlighted, informing the user that that condiment or topping is being left off.
The Instructions: Just below the main window is the instructions window. It is small
enough to not be an annoyance, but located so as to be easy to find by a novice user. In
this window, instructions for the stage that the user is at are displayed.
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Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Changing the Order
If the user changes his or her mind or makes a mistake, pressing the “Change Order”
button can change his or her order. This brings up the change order screen:
The order can be changed in two ways, by canceling an item or changing it. Pressing the
cancel button for each item will cancel that item. Pressing change brings up the order
screen for that item. The user then selects the new options for that item and presses the
Change button to change or Cancel button to Cancel. [In the actual executable, pressing
cancel removes the item. This is caused by technical issues and would not be the case in
the actual product.] Once the user is done changing the order, he or she can press
“Continue Ordering” to continue ordering items or “Finished Ordering” to go to the order
confirmation screen to complete his or her order.
Confirming the Order
Once the user has finished ordering, he or she presses the “Finished Ordering” button and
the Confirm Order screen is displayed. This screen is similar to the change order screen
except for the fact that the Cancel and Change buttons are not included. The user can
press “Continue Ordering” if he or she decides that more items must be ordered or can
press “Confirm Order” to submit the order. Once “Confirm Order” is pressed, the thank
you screen is displayed, informing the user to drive around. The Current Order screen is
still visible so the user can still view the order and the total. After a few seconds, the
interface resets for the next user.
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Eudiamonea, Inc.
Touch Screen Drive-Thru Interface
Usability Test Results and Changes
Our team carried out a usability test after having decided on the main layout and
functions of our interface. The purpose of this lengthy process was to verify our
assumptions of the users, test the main areas of concern of the design, and obtain
feedback from potential users in order to improve the interface. The following
summarizes the procedures, evaluations and changes in the system.
Four randomly assigned subjects performed two different tests. Two subjects
were given a set of items to order, without instructions on how to do so, simulating a
scenario for a novice user. The other two subjects were allowed to freely browse through
the interface. After all the subjects completed their tasks, they were asked to fill out a
follow up questionnaire and comment on what they thought of the interface. Since it was
the first usability test and early in the design process, the team thought that this simple
and inexpensive test was appropriate. The feedback obtained in the test enabled the team
to revise the drive-thru interface and make necessary changes, which are described as
follows.
The first change was to add a screen at the beginning of the ordering process.
This would allow users to select a language, for this interface there are English and
Spanish. This function is due to the great number of Hispanic customers.
There were quite a few changes made on the screen that shows up after the
language screen, the main screen. The subjects felt that it was hard to read: “Welcome to
McDonald’s” (McDonald’s was represented as the logo) since the logo was the first thing
they noticed. Therefore, we decided to write out “McDonald’s” in words and place a
faded logo as a backdrop. Also, the subjects pointed out that the message: “Select a
category (above)” was not very clear. They suggested using an arrow to indicate where
the users will find the category options. Graphical representations usually convey
information to users clearly and quickly, if well designed; therefore, the team decided to
implement this idea. The last change on the main page was to add a button that would
start over in case the user chooses the wrong language or wants to reset the whole order.
The next major modification of the system was the labeling of the menu options.
Instead of using the present McDonald’s menu labeling (e.g. sandwiches, sides) the team
chose to label it according to the type of meat (i.e. fish, chicken, burger). Problems arose
when users were trying to order “Chicken McNuggets,” which is under “sides” option. It
was not clear to the users what category nuggets belonged to.
Another feature that caused a gulf of execution was the one for
modifying an order. This feature was set up as shown on the left (see
Fig. 1), for modifying an order of a sandwich. The subjects did not
know whether the lettuce, tomatoe and onion were already in the
sandwich or not. Therefore, following one of the suggestions, the
label “Remove?” as well as the “Remove all?” and “Add all?”
buttons were removed, and the labeling was changed to “No lettuce,”
“No tomatoe,” and “No onion.” This would give less room for
ambiguity and eliminates the need for excess labels.
Fig. 1
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Another problem encountered was the method of ordering
soda. When selecting soda, a pop-up window appears to
allow the user to select the size and type of soda (see Fig.
2). It was not intuitive for the test subjects to choose the
size before the type; therefore, they often forgot to select
the type. The solution was to place the size and type side
by side, the type being on the left since it is the natural
direction of reading.
Fig. 2
Throughout the designing and testing of the interface, our team has been
concerned about the colours to used. At first, red and yellow (colours of McDonald’s)
were used consistently. Also, some buttons were coloured green and red because of the
semantic meaning. After the usability testing, the team took into account colorblindness
and decided to not use green. Also, red used in the background was substituted for light
blue, which is also a colour of McDonald’s.
The final change was regarding the “Change Order” screen. This screen is
accessible at any time during the ordering to allow users to modify their current order.
The problem was that in order to continue ordering the user would need to press the
“finished changes” button. Some subjects thought that it would submit the final order.
To avoid this confusion the team decided to change the labeling to: “Continue Ordering,”
as well as adding a “Finished Ordering” button, to allow users to submit their final order.
Overall, the subjects felt that the interface was consistent, with appropriate button
sizes, and easy to operate. One major feature tested was the help instructions at the
bottom of the screen. The team understands that placing help instructions will not solve
all the problems of understanding the system. This interface is supposed to be simple
since it is designed for a novice and casual users. However, in case of confusion, some
tips on how to use the system would be beneficial. During the usability testing, none of
the users needed the instruction messages, although they noticed them. They agreed that
in case they were unsure about something, the instructions on “what to do next” would be
easy to find and understand.
The usability testing was successful and brought up many problems and qualities
of the system, of which the team was unaware. However, the test performed cannot be
generalized to the whole drive-thru user population. The test was restricted to four
engineering students of the same age group: 20-21 years, who are quite up-to-date on
technology. Also, all subjects had previously seen a sample of this prototype during a
class presentation. These conditions were accounted for in the decisions of
improvements on the interface.
Future Steps
The steps taken so far in the design process are background research, modeling
the user, designing the interface, testing within the team, prototyping, and performing a
usability test. The results so far were a major improvement from the initial ideas of the
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team, and gave a better understanding of the users of the system. The next step would be
to iterate through the process, and make the necessary changes or investigations.
Due to time and resource constraints, the team was unable to complete all the
desirable features of the system. In the future, the team would like to implement an
additional function for the ordering of items, which would allow users to set the quantity
for each item ordered. Currently, the users have to repeat the ordering procedures for an
item as many times as the quantity. Another idea is to provide more options for
languages, especially in tourist locations. Lastly, implement a system so that the
customer is able to pay by credit card at the drive-thru interface. This would probably
make the system more efficient by quickening the ordering process.
Other than specific modifications, there are two other major concerns: modeling
the user and carrying out more advanced usability tests. A way to improve the modeling
of the users would be to examine in greater depth the different types of McDonald’s
drive-thru customers. This could be done though observation, statistical analysis, and
questionnaires to present and potential customers.
More advanced usability testing is essential for the success of the system. A
possible process of testing would be to build a prototype very similar to the intended
implementation of the interface and use different techniques of testing. Examples of the
latter would be to use the simplified thinking aloud method, which consists of asking the
subjects to say what they are doing and why when testing the interface, or videotaping the
subjects by paying attention to their eye movements, facial expressions, actions and what
they say.
Later on in the design process, the interface should be implemented in a few
McDonald’s around the country to observe users responses to the new system. After that
necessary changes should be made, tests done as needed, and a decision should be made
as to whether the system is ready to be launched.
Publicity of the new drive-thru system will be crucial to its success. This is
because people are usually worried about changes. Therefore, by publicizing it would
help users feel somewhat confident in using the new interface. Moreover, it might create
a positive attitude in the users towards the new system, resulting in motivation to learn
how to operate the interface.
Our team realizes that our interface will never be perfect. Nevertheless,
improvements will always need to be done to keep the users happy, and continue
competing in the market. Perfection is not our goal. As long as the users accept the
functionality of the interface, improvements will continue, and the system will get better
and better.
Conclusion
Eudiamonea Inc. has created a drive-thru interface for novice and casual users,
through a methodological and extensive design process. The team realizes that there are
many aspects to be improved in the system; which would be accomplished with more
time and resources. A copy of the project is attached to this report in disk.
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