Theme 5: Design research

Research paper:

Journal: IEEE Transactions on systems man and cybernetics part c – applications and reviews. Vol 34 Issue 2. May 2004. Impact factor: 2.009

Article: Involving users in the design of a mobile office robot

Source: Web of knowledge, web of science

The research paper I’ve chosen is about the design process of a fetch-and-carry-robot that was supposed to be used by motion-impaired people in an office environment.

1.       How is theory being used to guide the design process?

The theory used for this project is mainly based on related research done in the field of service robotics. However, there was little to be found regarding user-centered design of mobile service robots. They point a study by “Flynn and Brooks” published in the 1980s about the importance of developing and testing embodied robots in real environments to identify unanticipated research issues in system design and development. And this advocates the methods later used for designing the prototype. They also look at previous research done regarding the diversification of service robots, as separated from industrial robots and this helps them decide upon which type of components to use and the physical aspects of the robot.

2.       Which research method or methods are used in the paper? Which are the benefits and limitations of using these methods?

At an early stage they performed a questionnaire study to assess people’s attributes towards having robots around there working environment. The targeted users were people who suffered from physical impairments.

They also used a framework for task analysis, to find out about the users’ needs and work tasks.

The findings from using these two methods were used to guide the development of a prototype robot including interface, components etc. They then recruited a small group of potential users for doing user observations to develop the prototype even further in terms of the physical design and user interface. At last, a three month field study was also carried out to evaluate the robot in an office environment.

The design process used here was iterative and took a lot of time and resources, on the other hand it was really thorough and the result met the need of the users very well.

3.       What did you learn about conducting design research from reading the paper?

This type of user-focused design process is very well suited for designing a service or a product when the target group is quite small and have specific needs or have some other specific requirements. This is in contrast to the genius design process which is based on previous experience in the same field. The prototype developed in this article however was one of the first of its kind.

Reflections on:

Réhman, S., Sun, J., Liu, L., & Li, H. (2008). Turn Your Mobile Into the Ball: Rendering Live Football Game Using Vibration. IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, 10(6), 1022-1033.

How can media technologies be evaluated?

Media technologies can be evaluated in many ways, for example by qualitative or quantitative methods but a more specific and appropriate approach is, as described in this article; user testing. By having a prototype and letting the users be involved in the evaluation and development. Another approach is to have experts involved in the evaluation, but that all depends on what kind of media technology is being evaluated.  

What role will prototypes play in research?

A developed prototype makes it possible to perform testing for further development. A prototype is often developed from theories and results from survey methods that lead up to the developed prototype which in hand can be used for further, more practical research.

What are characteristics and limitations of prototypes?

Often, they don’t feature the final functionality and usability nor the final physical aspects. They provide a great opportunity for further developing a product or a service through testing.