I Am the Robot: Teen Collaboration in an Asymmetric, Virtual Reality Game

Virtual reality (VR) offers potential as a collaborative tool for both technology design and human-robot interaction. We utilized a participatory, human-centered design (HCD) methodology to develop a collaborative, asymmetric VR game to explore teens’ perceptions of, and interactions with, social robots. Our paper illustrates three stages of our design process; ideation, prototyping, and usability testing with users. Through these stages we identified important design requirements for our mid-fidelity environment. We then describe findings from our pilot test of the mid-fidelity VR game with teens. Due to the unique asymmetric virtual reality design, we observed successful collaborations, and interesting collaboration styles across teens. This study highlights the potential for asymmetric VR as a collaborative design tool as well as an appropriate medium for successful teen-to-teen collaboration.

Data Checkers: A Grid-Based UI for Managing Patient-Generated Data Sharing to Support Collaborative Self-Care

Chronic health conditions are becoming increasingly prevalent. As part of chronic care, sharing patient-generated health data (PGHD) is likely to play a prominent role. Sharing PGHD is increasingly recognized as potentially useful for not only monitoring health conditions but for informing and supporting collaboration with caregivers and healthcare providers. In this paper, we describe a new design for the fine-grained control over sharing one's PGHD to support collaborative self-care, one that centers on giving people with health conditions control over their own data. The system, Data Checkers (DC), uses a grid-based interface and a preview feature to provide users with the ability to control data access and dissemination. DC is of particular use in the case of severe chronic conditions, such as spinal cord injuries and disorders (SCI/D), that require not just intermittent involvement of healthcare providers but daily support and assistance from caregivers. In this paper, after providing relevant background information, we articulate our steps for developing this innovative system for sharing PGHD including (a) use of a co-design process; (b) identification of design requirements; and (c) creation of the DC System. We then present a qualitative evaluation of DC to show how DC satisfied these design requirements in a way that provided advantages for care. Our work extends existing research in the areas of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Computer-Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW), Ubiquitous Computing (Ubicomp), and Health Informatics about sharing data and PGHD.

Review of NZEB Criteria: Design of Life Containers in Operations Area

The Spanish Ministry of Defense is currently attempting to reduce the amount of energy that is consumed by its military bases and has therefore raised concerns about how to make their facilities more energy efficient. To fulfill this objective, the Spanish army has developed various studies and projects, as well as a technical prescription sheet that defines the thermal transmittance values of the materials that are to be used to construct the different elements of the containers that make up the temporary housing units at Spanish military camps. Both governments and private entities have developed initiatives that are aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which are classified into two groups: those aimed at the development of mandatory building codes and those that are based on voluntary certification programs. The use of passive strategies is one of the key actions that is being implemented to achieve the NZEB category, as its first requirement is to be a “very low energy consumption building”. This paper compares the energy efficiency requirements of the tents and containers that are used in military camps and the energy-efficient design requirements that are demanded by the energy efficiency standards for buildings in the civil sector. Through this comparison, we determine how energy efficient the current living spaces in military camps are in order to define strategies that can be implemented to improve the design requirements of these living spaces so to reduce the consumption and operation logistics and to improve both operability and safety in military camp facilities.

Mapping the customer centric weather index insurance service design using quality function deployment

PurposeThe present paper aims to propose a framework on weather index insurance (WII) service design by using quality function deployment (QFD).Design/methodology/approachThis study utilizes QFD technique to propose a customer oriented framework on WII service design. In initial phase, customer and design requirements were gathered to derive the relationship between customers' and managers' voice for construct the house of quality (HOQ). Later on, prioritized customer and design requirements as QFD outcome were utilized to develop the action plan matrix in order to suggest the future action plans.FindingsThis study proposed a customer centric framework on WII service design to address the customer requirements. Findings show that adequate claim payments, hassle free prompt claim payment and transparency in losses computation are prioritized customer requirements with highest importance rating, whereas, accurate claim estimation, claim management system and advancement of technology are prioritized service design necessities with highest importance rating.Research limitations/implicationsThe proposed WII service design can enhance the quality of WII service by attain the higher standards of WII service in order to completely satisfy the customers.Practical implicationsThe proposed WII service design can provide a solution to the problems faced by WII industry by improve the customer's service experience and satisfaction.Originality/valueBased on best of author's knowledge, this paper first proposed a framework on WII service design by integrating customer and design requirements by using QFD.

A Pythagorean fuzzy ANP-QFD-Grey relational analysis approach to prioritize design requirements of sustainable supply chain

A sustainable supply chain (SSC) is vital for company’s sustainability success, so it is imperative to identify and prioritize SSC’s design requirements (DRs) for better SSC planning. For customer-centric markets, the customer requirements (CRs) need to be integrated into SSC’s DRs. This paper thus proposes a customer-centric approach based on Analytic Network Process (ANP), Quality Function Deployment (QFD), Grey Relational Analysis (GRA), and Pythagorean Fuzzy Set (PFS) to rank SSC’s DRs, considering CRs and information ambiguity. The PFS is combined with ANP, QFD, and GRA to better handle uncertainty in the SSC. The Pythagorean fuzzy ANP is applied to analyze the correlations among the sustainable CRs and determine the corresponding weights. The sustainable CRs are transformed into the DRs using the Pythagorean fuzzy QFD. The relationships among the resulting DRs are analyzed through Pythagorean fuzzy GRA to prioritize DRs. The approach is validated through a case study. The results obtained in this paper shows that the proposed method is efficient to prioritize DRs of SSC with the consideration of sustainable CRs under uncertain environment. The novelties of proposed method are that it not only offers a customer-oriented SSC planning method through the integration of ANP, QFD and GRA, but also can reflect the uncertain information with a broader membership representation space via PFSs. Based on the proposed method, the decision-maker can conduct comprehensive analysis to prioritize DRs and design appropriate SSC to fulfill CRs under uncertain environment.

CAD-MBSE Interoperability for the Checking of Design Requirements Based on Assemblability Indicators

A mechanical product is the result of collaboration between different domains. In this paper we focus on the collaborative work that brings together the system engineer and the designer in the realization process of a mechanical system. A design solution, conceived in the CAD environment, is considered valid if all the specification requirements, defined in the MBSE (Model Based System Engineering) domain, are met. Thus, the preliminary study of these requirements has a major influence on the choice and validation of the design solution. In this paper a methodology for handling the requirements has been detailed. These requirements are classified into two main categories. The first one deals with the product performance and the second addresses the process performance in order to generate the best assembly sequence. Depending on the response of the designed solution to these requirements, it becomes easy to decide not only whether the design solution can be validated or not but also to choose the most optimal assembly sequence that ensures the best operation quality. A validation example of a speed reducer is used to demonstrate the added value of the proposed approach.

A Case Study of Material Selection Method Based on Engineering and Material Perception Applied to the Smartphone Rear Panel

Smartphones were launched in the market as a product in the early 2000’s. Today, less than 20 years later, the smartphone has become one of the most frequently used devices for human contact. The market is saturated, and competition between products has intensified, and it is not difficult to find products that are culled. To be selected by consumers, product differentiation must be outstanding, which is not easy when the basic technology is standardized. Currently, competition in the fields of cameras and displays is intensifying, but it is expected that advanced technology will become commonplace in the near future. There are several ways to increase the competitiveness and differentiation of a product, for example, by considering the technical aspects, or making the personality of the product unique. Consumers communicate with products through materials. The process and selection of materials suitable for the design requirements of a product is a very important component in competitive product manufacturing. The final material selection is performed by dividing the design requirements into function, constraints, personality, objectives, and supporting information aspects, and the selecting materials suitable for each stage. By capturing the overall concept as a function, the processes of selecting materials that meet the constraints, determining the type of material that matches the personality, and using the objectives to obtain the top-ranked materials, the final material suitable for all conditions can be selected by referring to supporting information from the top-ranked materials.