Bag Assist

We brainstormed over and discussed diverse ideas of kiosks and related interactions to address the problems and the needs identified. Some of the ideas that we decided to go ahead with were:

1) Kiosk to track baggage: This was the central idea for all our concepts. Envisioned to be located in the baggage claim area, this kiosk would tell people where their baggage currently was and how long it would take to reach the carousel. To accomplish this, the infrastructure would require placing sensors at various points throughout the airport where each sensore would be located at a particular "zone". The estimated time to reach the carousel from a particular zone would be statistically determined.

2) Mobile message to inform people how long their bag would take to arrive: In addition to the kiosk, people could opt to receive a mobile message as they proceeded to receive their bags. The message would tell them how long they needed to wait to get their bags. This facility would enable them to decide when to reach the baggage claim area and avoid unnecessary waiting.

3) Ground Transport Finder: Another function of the kiosk was visioned as helping people to find ground transportation and reach the right place to get them.

4) Big Screen Display: To make the period of waiting for bags entertaining, a giant display would show the "journey" of the bags from the aircraft to the carousel and even allow bags to race against one another if their owners signed up for it.

5) Visual tags on bags: Inspired by an observation that a few people had difficulty identifying their bags at the carousel and in general a lot of attentiveness was required, a visual tag (a symbol that people would would choose for their bags) was designed to be put on the bag as well as on the ticket. This would aid easy recognition of bags from a distance.

Brainstorm notes