The pilot was a display. The rollout was a machine.
A touch kiosk with an Android board is a screen with a computer inside. A check-in kiosk with a document scanner, a thermal printer and a card reader is a small machine with power, timing and driver dependencies.Most failed rollouts we hear about were specified as the first and delivered as the second. The pilot passes because it runs for an hour on a desk. The rollout fails because it runs for a year behind a locked door.
Failure one: the printer browned out the panel
A 21.5-inch kiosk might idle at 60 W and peak at 120. A thermal printer pulls up to 100 W while printing, and with a scanner and payment terminal the peak can double.One 150 W supply with no margin means the rail sags during a print job and the screen flickers. We now size the supply at 1.5 times the calculated peak and test twenty cold boots with every peripheral attached.
Failure two: USB that works on a bench
Peripherals that enumerate fine on a desk sometimes fail after a cold boot inside a sealed cabinet. Windows handles most scanners. Android needs a vendor SDK, and the SDK may not exist for the model the client already bought.If the software is Android-only, confirm the peripheral list before the enclosure drawing is approved. After sheet metal is cut, every change costs a new run.
Failure three: paper, heat, and six screws
A printer needs its roll changed without dismantling the kiosk, and it produces heat and paper dust ten centimetres from the mainboard.Put it behind a separate service door with a metal shield between it and the board. A kiosk that takes a technician twenty minutes to load paper will be out of service more often than it should be.
The list we run before design sign-off
Every peripheral with a model number. The operating system. The driver or SDK. Peak power. Where consumables are accessed. Whether the service door needs a tamper switch.Boring questions, and the difference between a pilot and a rollout.