Campus dining kiosk
- Role
- Electronics development
- Context
- Human-Centred Design Engineering · Imperial · team of 5
- Year
- 2026
- Tools
Overview
Imperial's canteens offer so much choice that deciding what to eat becomes hard. MealMap is a kiosk and web app that filters campus food by your dietary needs, budget and taste, and lets you pre-order it. You sign in by tapping your card. I developed the electronics for the prototype.
8.2/10Rated "impactful" by testers
14Students in scenario testing
100%Of interviewees found campus food hard to navigate as freshers
01
Problem
Campus menus, nutrition details, dietary information and queue lengths are spread across separate food outlets. Our interviews showed that students, especially new ones, end up making rushed, low-confidence choices or falling back on the same safe meal every day.
02
My Role: Electronics
I built the system that reads a user's card and links it to their account. It started as a breadboard prototype using an ESP32 and an RFID reader. I then moved it to a compact soldered perfboard "sandwich" that fits inside a 3D printed case.
We first planned a wired link to the tablet, but the iPad couldn't support it, so I switched to wireless. The ESP32 communicates with the web platform and its database, so a tap signs the user in and loads their saved preferences.
03
Testing
14 students went through three role-play scenarios: finding a meal that fits a dietary requirement, ordering as fast as possible, and browsing without a plan. On a 10-point scale, testers scored MealMap 8.2 for impact and 7.9 for everyday usefulness.
04
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