Interactive kiosk

Several countries historically implemented the nationwide installation of kiosks for various purposes. One example of such large scale installations can be found in the United Kingdom, where thousands of special-purpose kiosks are now available to aid job-seekers in finding employment.[4]

The United States Department of Homeland Security has created immigration kiosks where visitors register when they enter the United States. There are also Exit kiosks where visitors register when they leave the U.S.

The postal service has automated kiosks in many of the postal offices for self-service.

The Veterans Administration has over 5,000 patient kiosks deployed. In 2020 the next generation kiosks along with mobile check-in for veterans began.

In India, digital kiosks are used for various purposes, such as payment of bills.[5]

It is estimated that over 1,200,000 kiosk terminals exist in the U.S. and Canada alone.

Groups who use kiosks in their business environment include: Delta Airlines, United Airlines, JetBlue Airways, GTAA, Future Shop, The Home Depot, Target Corporation, and Wal-Mart.

The tele kiosk can be considered the technical successor to the telephone booth, a publicly accessible set of devices that are used for communication. These can include email, fax, SMS, as well as standard telephone service. The Telekiosk is rarely seen anymore.

Telekiosks gradually appeared around the United Kingdom in the first years of the 21st century. Some are situated in shopping centers and transport terminals, to provide detailed local information. Others are in public places, including motorway service areas and airports.

The International Telecommunications Union is promoting the use of the telekiosk in Africa and parts of Asia where local people do not have access to communications technology. In part, this work addresses the "digital divide" between rich and poor nations. There are, however, great practical benefits. The scheme in Bhutan aims to provide an E-Post system, whereby messages are relayed by telephone, then delivered by hand to rural areas, easing the problems of transporting letters across the countryside. Health, agricultural and educational information is also available.

The financial services kiosk can provide the ability for customers to perform transactions that may normally require a bank teller and maybe more complex and longer to perform than desired at an ATM. These are sometimes referred to as "bank-in-a-box" and the first prime example would be the Vcom units deployed in 7–11 in the U.S.

These units are generally referred to as 'multi-function financial service kiosks' and the first iteration was back in the late 1990s with the VCOM product deployed in Southland (7-Eleven) convenience stores. Check-cashing, bill-payment and even dispensing cash cards. New multi-function machines have been deployed in "c-store" markets supported by Speedway and others.

An interactive kiosk allows users to print pictures from their digital images. The marquee example began with Kodak who had at one point had over 100,000 units up and running in the U.S. Many of these units were customized PCs with an LCD which would then print to the central printer in Customer service. Two major classes of photo kiosks exist:

Digital Order Stations -- This type of photo kiosk exists within retail locations and allows users to place orders for prints and photographic products. Products typically get produced in-store by a digital minilab, or at another location to be shipped directly to the consumer, or back to the store to be picked up at a later time. Digital Order Stations may or may not support instant printing, and typically do not handle payments.

Instant Print Stations - This type of photo kiosk uses internal printers to instantly create photographic prints for a self serve paying customer. Often located in public locations (hotels, schools, airports), Instant Print Stations handle payments. Often such systems will only print 4x6 inch prints, although popular dye-sublimation photo printers as of 2008 allow for 4x6, 5x7, 8x10, 8x12. It's more a matter of resupply labor economics and chassis size.

An Internet kiosk is a terminal that provides public Internet access. Internet kiosks sometimes resemble telephone booths, and are typically placed in settings such as hotel lobbies, long-term care facilities, medical waiting rooms, apartment complex offices, or airports for fast access to e-mail or web pages. Internet kiosks sometimes have a bill acceptor or a credit card swipe, and nearly always have a computer keyboard, a mouse (or a fixed trackball which is more robust), and a monitor.

Some Internet kiosks are based on a payment model similar to vending machines or Internet café, while others are free. A common arrangement with pay-for-use kiosks has the owner of the Internet kiosk enter into a partnership with the owner of its location, paying either a flat rate for rental of the floor space or a percentage of the monthly revenue generated by the machine.

One of the first companies in North America to develop and deploy internet kiosks with touch screens via user login and password was Streetspace Inc. based out of San Francisco, California. Starting in 1999 they deployed internet kiosks across locations inside cafes, restaurants, and record shops in Berkeley, California. Street space was also one of the first companies to roll-out targeted advertising and services to these internet kiosks based on the location of the kiosk and the profile of the user when they logged into the terminal.

Internet kiosks have been the subject of hacker activity. Hackers will download spyware and catch user activity via keystroke logging. Other hackers have installed hardware keystroke logging devices that capture user activity.

Businesses that provide Internet kiosks are encouraged to use special Internet kiosk software and management procedures to reduce liability exposure.

Many amusement parks such as Disney have unattended outdoor ticketing kiosks. Amtrak has automated self-service ticketing kiosks. Busch Gardens uses kiosks for amusement parks. Lisbon Oceanarium has self-service ticketing kiosks by Partteam & Oemkiosks. Cruise ships use ticketing kiosks for passengers. Check-in Kiosks for auto rental companies such as Alamo and National have had national deployments. The ticket halls of train stations and metro stations have ticketing kiosks that sell transit passes, train tickets, transit tickets, and train passes.

Many movie theater chains have specialized ticket machines that allow their customers to purchase tickets and/or pick up tickets that were purchased online. Radiant and Fujitsu have been involved in this segment.

A new way to order in-cafe from tablet kiosks. Kiosks are available in addition to cashier stations so that wait time is reduced for all guests. The kiosk is highly visual and includes a product builder to assist with order accuracy and customization.

An example of a vending kiosk is that of the DVD rental kiosks manufactured by several manufacturers, where a user can rent a DVD, secured by credit card for $1 per day.

One of the larger DVD Vending Kiosks companies is Outerwall, inc who owns and operates the Redbox kiosks throughout North America. They operate Coinstar kiosks as well.

Visitor management and security kiosk can facilitate the visitor check-in process at businesses, schools, and other controlled access environments. These systems can check against blacklists, run criminal background checks, and print access badges for visitors. School security concerns in the United States have led to an increase in these types of kiosks to screen and track visitors.

Many shopping malls, hospitals,[6] airports and other large public buildings use interactive kiosks to allow visitors to navigate in buildings. Harris County Hospital District, Baptist Hospital of Miami, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the Cayuga Medical Center are but a few medical centers utilizing interactive touch screen kiosks with a building directory and wayfinding solution.

Hospitals and medical clinics are looking to kiosks to allow patients to perform routine activities. Kiosks that allow patients to check-in for their scheduled appointments and update their demographics to reduce the need to line up and interact with a registration clerk. In areas where patients must make a co-pay, kiosks will also collect payment. As the requirements for documentation, waivers, and consent increase, kiosks with integrated signature capture devices can present the documentation to the patient and collect their signature. A business case for registration and check-in kiosks is built around:

1. workload reduction,
2. data quality improvements,
3. consistency of the registration process, and
4. patient experience improvement.

A large community hospital has been able to reduce their registration staff by 30%, improve data quality, and shorten lineups.

Kiosks can display information customized to the user such as personalized messages helping them to manage their health.[7]

Museums, historical sites, national parks, and other tourists/visitor attractions often engage kiosks as a method for conveying information about a particular exhibit or site. Kiosks allow guests to read about - or view the video of - particular artifacts or areas at their own pace and in an interactive manner, learning more about those areas that interest them most. The Rockwell Museum in New York City uses touchscreen tablets to provide visitors with accessible and relevant labels for a particular exhibit. The Penn State All sports museum employs interactive kiosks to display up to date information about past and current Penn State athletes and sports teams. The Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration now boasts a citizen test available for visitors to take online via an informational kiosk. Additional kiosk displays include a "Threads of Migration" interactive exhibition featuring three touch-screen kiosks as part of "The Journey: New Eras of Immigration" section, which covers immigration since 1954.

Video kiosk integrates video conferencing and collaboration capabilities to help users run video calls or conferences with available operators, view content or exchange messages. Video kiosks are often used in banking[8] or telemedicine[9] for improved customer service.

Temperature kiosks began with the COVID-19 outbreak. They typically require no interaction except for the user to approach the terminal. A thermal imaging camera or a thermopile temperature sensor is typically used in conjunction with a camera to measure surface temperature (usually the forehead). Thermal imaging systems can drill down to the inner canthus which yields a more representative temperature. As of 2020 August, temperature kiosks are still relatively unregulated by the FDA.

The project in NYC pretty much lays out smart city kiosks. They are typically outdoor, larger than 42" and often two-sided. The idea is to provide internet access on the street which means applications like Wayfinding or tie-ins to transportation systems come integrated.

Historically electronic kiosks though are standalone enclosures that accept user input, integrate many devices, include a software GUI application, and remote monitoring, and are deployed widely across all industry verticals. This is considered "Kiosk Hardware" within the kiosk industry.

POS-related "kiosks" are "lane busting" check-outs such as seen at large retailers like Home Depot and Kroger.

Simple touchscreen terminals or panel-pcs are another segment and enjoy most of their footprint in POS retail applications and typically facing the employee. Terminals include NCR Advantage (740x terminal) and the IBM Anyplace computer terminal. These units are considered "kiosks" only in functionality delivered and typically only incorporate touchscreen, bar code scanner, and/or magnetic stripe reader.

Market segments for kiosks and self-service terminal manufacturers include photo kiosks, government, airlines, internet, music, retail loyalty, HR, and financial services, just to name some.

This segment includes healthcare patient check-in and "take a number" type custom flow. Devices range from simple ticket dispense to biometrics (fingerprint readers) for patient check-in.

The basic application of kiosks in the hotel industry is to reduce waiting time for guests at check-in/checkout and relieve the reception desk. Usually, hotel kiosks are located in the lobby and are integrated or interface with the hotel's property management system. The machines allow guests to fill in and sign a registration card, select a room, issue hotel key cards, check for extra offers or upgrades, and book and pay for them. In retail, clients can place online orders in store for home delivery, avoid queuing in fast-food restaurants, and issue library books. Generally, kiosks are seen as an enhancement to a retail or hospitality offer rather than a replacing staff members.

The main regulatory issues are ADA and Accessibility, PCI-EMV, UL, CE, and HIPAA. There are many more regulations including state-specific regulations (e.g. Unruh Act in California). In 2019 the Kiosk Association released a new Code of Practice for Accessibility. It was presented to the entire U.S. Access Board in 2019.