A lift with an external control panel
I remember reading about such lifts, but this was my first personal experience: in an office building I encountered a lift that can only be operated with the control panel located on the floors. The control panel inside of the lift has only 3 buttons: to close the door, to open the doors, to call the operator.
In order to call the lift, one must select the desired floor on the control panel on the floor. The system then will inform which lift (out of three) to take.
When the lift arrives, you get in and wait for it to stop on your floor. There are no other options available, so you cannot change your mind and stop at a floor different from the one that was “ordered” (by you or someone else).
My impressions are mixed. It was, of course, fun to try a completely new approach to such a trivial thing as a lift operation. I believe that this algorithm may save energy through a more optimal “route planning”. However, the touch screen control panel has poor accessibility: it is not possible to use it by touch only. Furthermore, I was not feeling comfortable during the ride: I was travelling in a closed metal box without any control button available. The control panel for “ordering” the lift could also look a bit more friendly, with larger buttons and some intro text for newcomers. The lack of the 7th floor button (I don’t know the reason) and the additional buttons on the top row with unclear functionality also add to the confusion.
To sum up, I think this system needs some design work. Besides improving the control panel on the touch screen, I would add the button “Stop on the next floor” inside of the lift. While it might not be used much in reality, it would definitely add the feeling of control and a possibility to get out faster in some unpredictable situations.
