Self-Service Innovation Summit honors 2023 Automation & Self-Service Award winners

Innovation took center stage during the Automation & Self-Service Awards presentations at the Loews Coral Gables in Miami Tuesday night. The awards are a highlight of the Self-Service Innovation Summit held through Wednesday.

This year nominees in seven categories competed for recognition as leaders in their respective areas.

Readers of KioskMarketplace and VendingTimes submitted nominations from August through October. A panel of judges reviewed the nominations and selected the winners in seven categories: Best Use of AI, Vending, Kiosk, Robotics, Accessibility, Best Mobile Solution and Influencer of the Year.

Cherryh Cansler, VP of events for Networld Media Group, and Dave Wurm, chief sales officer at Networld Media Group, producer of the summit, presented the award winners.

Networld Media Group is the parent company of KioskMarketplace, VendingTimes and Automation & Self Service.

Here are the winners in each of the categories.

Best Use of AI

Dynamic Interaction

Submitted by SoundHound

SoundHound Dynamic Interaction provides conversational AI for human-computer interaction. Dynamic Interaction delivers interaction by not only recognizing and understanding speech, but also responding and acting to speech in real-time.

The consumer interface for kiosks, drive-thrus and any customer service device with a screen allows instant, continuous audiovisual feedback in response to both touch and verbal commands.

Users don't have to speak in a slow or unnatural way to be understood in customer service settings. They are able to communicate as if they were talking to a real person and receive immediate responses. They can also customize a food order verbally by touch or using both touch and verbal interchangeably.

Dynamic Interaction can ignore off-topic speech, make suggestions to the user and help determine when to use visual or audio output. Beyond restaurants, the tool can be used for various products and services.

Best Vending Solution

Selfly Store

Submitted by Selfy Store

The Selfly Store lets shoppers tap their payment card or mobile wallet, open the cabinet door to peruse the contents. Transactions average 10 seconds. In addition, nearly one third (28%) of customers purchase more than one item. The store also supports QR-based e-receipts and feedback, boosting customer transparency and involvement.

The unit occupies one square meter and uses RFID technology for real-time analytics, including in freezing conditions. It also features a heating system for a clear glass door.

Once the door is closed, shoppers are charged only for the items they've taken.

Shoppers can also scan a QR code to receive an electronic receipt and leave feedback, providing an extra layer of transparency and enabling additional customer input.

The system's expiration date management functionality helps control food waste.

Best Kiosk Solution

Samsung Kiosk

Submitted by Samsung Electronics

Samsung's KMC-W kiosk is powered by the 11th Gen Intel Core Processor and built on the Windows 10 IoT Enterprise operating system, offering full compatibility with major ordering, point-of-sale and property management software solutions.

The kiosk features expanded peripheral interfaces to allow businesses to customize the kiosks for various scenarios, including as ID/passport scanners, payment terminals, external cameras and vending machines.

Businesses can integrate all their inventory regardless of location and integrate in-store and online shopping experiences with endless aisle capabilities while also creating new revenue streams via digital-out-of-home advertising opportunities.

The kiosk can also integrate loyalty programs into each interaction to further engage customers and increase ticket sizes.

A shatterproof film and a UL-certified antimicrobial coating protect the kiosk's screens while delivering state-of-the-art picture quality.

Best Use of Robotics

Robojo Coffee Kiosk

Submitted by Robojo Coffee

The Robojo coffee kiosk can serve 100 cups of bean-to-cup coffee per hour, featuring two WMF-5000S+ automatic espresso machines and two latte art printers, a Kawasaki robot arm and a refrigerator. The equipment is connected to the monitoring system via ethernet cables allowing devices to be plug and play.

Users can pay at one of two credit card terminals or via a propriety app which provides a barcode that's good until it is redeemed at the kiosk.

This system can serve 600 drinks before needing to be restocked with cups, beans and milk. The robot arm can prepare up to five drinks at a time.

The system's central ERP monitors the entire kiosk and provides daily sales reports while monitoring the equipment and notifying managers of any issues.

Once installed, the unit requires about an hour a day to restock and clean the machine, offering labor savings compared to traditional coffee shops.

Best Accessibility Solution

Visor Accessible Wayfinding Solution for the Visually Impaired

Submitted by Icomera

Visor is a service innovation designed to enhance the appeal of public transportation in accessibility, comfort, design or user-friendliness for a transport system, stations and vehicles. Visually impaired individuals have hard time using traditional signage and cannot be fully independent in unfamiliar environments. Visor provides them contextual guidance at stations, helping make transit facilities fully accessible.

Visor leverages NaviLens BIDI codes and GoMedia's cloud-based, passenger information system to show directions in the NaviLens and NaviLens Go apps. The system makes use of optical BIDI codes that can be scanned from distances of more than 60 meters away from a smart device. Passengers hold up their smartphone, and the device automatically recognizes any BIDI codes in view and displays context- and location-specific directions to help the passenger reach their destinations.

Visor offers user contextual awareness and autonomy with a personalized interface, a benefit that point-to-point navigation does not provide.

Best Mobile Solution

Good2Go Automated Access Solution

Submitted by Good2Go Inc.

Good2Go's automated access and virtual queuing technology provides shoppers frictionless access to dressing rooms, restrooms and locked merchandise with QR code technology while deterring misuse and crime. The system enables organizations to provide access to high-risk areas without needing staff to manage keys or punch codes.

Shoppers do not need to download an app and can use their smartphones to scan the QR code directly outside the door. They instantly receive a mobile pass on their phone which they display to the scanner, prompting the door to open automatically.

Good2Go software supports virtual queue capability and eliminates long lines, allowing customers to sit at their table or shop while waiting their turn.

The solution provides a single access tool for any number of entry points, from simple dressing room and restroom solutions to a single point of access for every guest touch-point — transportation, EV interface, entertainment, order fulfillment, transportation and more.

Influencer of the Year

Aslak de Silva, CEO, Selfly Store

Submitted by Selfly Store

Selfly Store, a Finland-based company owned by Stora Enso, has expanded to 21 countries in Europe as well as the U.S. under Aslak de Silva. The company has also expanded its unattended, RFID-enabled freestanding stores that enable contactless, on-the-go purchasing.

The company most recently introduced an intelligent vending freezer to its suite of unattended vending products.