ugo

ugo concept illustration
Just ask ugo
Why ugo?
Final MVP from Hackthon
Screen Saver of ugo on a specific platform
After scanning your ticket, you can choose how to continue your journey

ugo is a digital information kiosk that is designed to be placed in train stations in order to inform travellers about disruptions & delays as well as provide them with personalised information about their own journey at the right time in the right place.

How we built it

A first interface paper prototype was drafted in order to be validated by users.
We asked travellers in Newcastle train station to use the paper prototype and give us feedback in regards to the current features.
A new hi-fi interface was designed based on their needs and requests.
A tablet and mobile phone are mounted in a box.
An app on the phone uses the camera to scan a ticket.
It then makes a request to a web server sending the ticket data.
The tablet has a browser open connected to the same web sever.
When the app has scanned, the web server hits the rail APIs for info.
WebSockets are used to automatically update the info on the tablet.

Challenges we ran into

Reading the ticket - we did not have magnetic scanner and could not decipher the 2D barcode
Lack of hardware in the actual Hackthon. Thanks to Nick from Wave Roll, we had a tablet which can be used as a mock-up LCD screen

What we learned

Most travellers feel safer knowing the reasons for their delays.
Many travellers prefer interacting with a digital artefact than asking the information desk .
Information announcements are many times ignored or very hard to hear due to the noise in the station.
Travellers loved the idea of having personalised information about their journey available in the context of the station, by scanning their ticket.
Having a personalised map to navigate large and unfamiliar train stations is a feature well received by the public.
It would be better to shoot a video than a live demo. Because of the limitations described above, at current stage, a live demo is quite risky.

What's next for ugo

ugo is getting a new box and will be polished for the next pitch event in December.
A second round of user validation with the new prototype and a demo video will be filmed.
We hope to launch a pilot in one of UK's major rail stations to test ugo's effectiveness and we'll gather data about the pilot study that will later be presented to potential business partners.