Automated Turnstile
Background:
A recent customer wanted a method of replacing the ticket/door man at his movie theater with an automated turnstile.
The Challenge:
The client was looking for a way to check tickets automatically. The solution needed to be easy to use, as well as free of any language, literacy, and any other social differences that would detract from people using the turnstile correctly and efficiently.
The Journey:
The first attempt to automate the ticket checking was to use a bar code scanner to scan the tickets as the patrons walked through the turnstile. However, the buttery fingers from the popcorn and the bar coded tickets proved to be an incompatible pair. There needed to be a more dependable way to automate the turnstile with out all the frustrating side-effects.
The Solution:
Edgewater Automation developed two solutions that can be customized to fit any turnstile in a wide-range of industries and places of business with the desire to automate processes with wireless and/or RFID technologies.
The initial prototype that Edgewater Automation developed included a wireless communication tool from turnstile to turnstile and from turnstile to a host computer. The movie theater owner wanted to make a simpler stand-alone solution to avoid the possibility of human error, like forgetting to set up the host computer.
In order to simplify theater operations, Edgewater Automation developed an RFID system that uses a durable movie-ticket-card with an embedded RFID tag. The customer received a movie card, rather than a ticket, that they scanned at the RFID readable turnstile and passed through to their theater without having to wait for a doorman to tear the tickets for them. The turnstile would “cancel” the ticket, but the patron could leave and re-enter by scanning the ticket when exiting.
Edgewater Automation developed a total solution with their RFID device that was readable, writable and was battery operated (with a built in low-level detector and alarm). A custom made micro-processor based control system and circuit board was built to manage the data base and to monitor directional traffic.
Benefits:
Simplify theater operations by using a stand alone device.
