The process of physical rehabilitation in most cases consists of visits to a physical therapist and exercises the patient is expected to perform at home. To increase or maintain strength or flexibility these exercises need to be performed regularly. Practice teaches us that not all patients succeed here. In this project, we look into what is keeping them from succeeding and how we can support this process. In literature, four categories of barriers are described, from which the psychological barriers are most interesting to investigate further within this project. Motivation plays a big part within this category. The Fogg model gives structure to the different components of motivation and different factors influencing the execution of preferred behavior. It shows us triggers will fail if motivation is low or the task takes too much effort to complete. In a lot of the cases, the intention to complete the exercises is present with the client, but the behavior does not reflect this intention. The intention-behavior gap can be bridged the same way the fogg model suggests triggers to be efficient, by motivating the user or making the task take less effort. By providing support during the exercise - providing both motivation and decreasing effort - and giving the patient the opportunity to track their progress after doing the exercises for a longer amount of time we can increase the exercise adherence. To provide support, we need to gather data on the movements that are made during the exercise. We developed a textile stitched strain sensor that tracks the angle of a joint. The sensor has conductive thread stitched in a tight zigzag pattern onto Kinesio tape. Since the tape is adhered to the skin, the sensor experiences minimal hysteresis. Using the data gathered by the stitched strain sensor, we tested giving back different kinds of feedback using two different actuators. We found that giving the test subjects more precise data on their movement made them more accurate, but at the same time, made them experience their movement as less accurate. This on the one hand, gave them more motivation to improve, but also made them less confident in performing the exercise. The project proves that using the real time data gathered by the stitched strain sensor can add to better executing of on exercise and has potential to with that data also contribute to long term exercise-adherence.

Many people experience worry once in a while. Chronic worry can have a severe impact on people's daily life. Many things, like health conditions, social relationships, sleep quality, and work performance, are all influenced by worrying [Joseph 2017]. So, this is something we would like to address. This assignment aims to explore embodied interactions to help people reduce worries and improve their well-being. To understand what people are worried about, how they start worrying, and what people do when worrying, I designed a culture probe, with wristband, stickers, and reports. The culture probe aims to capture the moment when the users are worrying. There were 16 participants in this research, providing 90 worry reports[Appendix-2]. From the analysis of culture probe, I narrowed the scope into the design goals: Monitor people's worry level, relieve people's negative feelings, remind people who are stuck in the negative feelings and distract people when they perceive low controllability. After that, I did competitive research about mental health Apps and therapeutic robots on the market. This research is to analyze the interactions they provide, why they work/do not work. Combining with literature reviews, I came up with the interaction vision describing how the interaction should be. The most essential visions are Inviting, subtle& natural, socially autonomous, and meaningful. Then, in the ideation phase, I did two brainstorming sessions to explore interactions to relieve people's negative feelings, how to detect their worrying feelings and how to make the interaction intuitively relate to the worries. There were also two evaluation sessions in the ideation phase, which helped me develop the ideas into three concepts. In the conceptualization phase, I developed three concepts further and arranged a peer evaluation session to determine the final concept, the zen stone concept. Then I did a low-fi prototype test to find out it the idea fits the design goal & interaction vision. The result was very promising; the interaction helped the user to relieve their negative feelings. So I decided to develop the concept further with an App providing guidance. Then I arranged the final usability test and iterated the concept with some details. The final design's name is Zen stone. It can recognize the user's emotions with emotion recognition by speech software and remind the user when they are worrying, though shining and vibrating. The zen stone will mimic the user's heart rate through a sensor, helping the user be aware of their mental state. It will also provide meditation guidance to help to user calm down and focus on the moment.

Background This project belongs to the IEBB project, which advocates for the renovation of ‘zero energy houses’ (ZEH) that synergize insulation and heat pump systems for energy conservation. The ZEH’s energy-saving efficiency depends on user behaviour. From a systems perspective, improper human interactions hinder energy saving, while occupants may find system responses that conflict with their preferences. This study delves into these conflicts and crises, highlighting the variance in post-occupancy adaptation influenced by individual perceptions and familial interplay. The project’s zenith aim is to tailor adaptation, ensuring co-performance between the heat pump system and households. Key Insight In researching residents’ responses to the ‘routine crisis’ introduced by a new system, I discovered that these ‘crises’ could be productive, stimulating household engagement and fostering harmonious interactions with ZEH systems. This insight gave rise to the concept of the ‘enacted interface’ - a distinctive bridge between residents and their automated homes that supports the adaptation process. Through analysis, I identified elements that amplify residents’ engagement with ‘crises’ and observed the influence of family diversity on individual perceptions and responses to them. The results are manifested in two interrelated frameworks: one describing the ubiquity of ‘crises’ and another characterising the classification and impact of different elements. Design This design aims to make households curious about ‘crises’ and guide them towards tailored adaptations to new tech. The ‘Clock’ thermostat provides a consistent interface for temperature adjustments, while the ‘Feeling Message Board’ suggests lifestyle tips based on the user’s emotional input and changing scenarios. Both reinforce the system’s ability to communicate contextual and real-time status, motivating users to actively engage with its functions. Additionally, the design stimulates family discussions about the indoor environment and promotes collaborative responses to ‘crises’. Through co-performance of the system’s dynamic feedback and the household’s proactive exploration, the aim is to facilitate tailored adaptation.

Electric vehicles, electric cooking, heating installations running on electricity; the future is electric. This electrification creates a continuously growing demand of electricity. However, the electricity grid network is not able to transport these amounts of electricity and is facing problems. Part of the problem is created by charging electric vehicles (EV’s) which creates high peak demand on the local grid network. The challenge is to find better ways to charge these vehicles, especially in the future. This is what smart charging needs to do. Smart charging is adapting the time and or velocity of a charging session. The main challenge addressed in this project is: How can Vattenfall offer a valuable smart charging proposition to enable EV drivers to use smart charging at home? Three interesting scenarios of smart charging are found: simple scheduled charging using time-of-use (TOU) tariffs, charging to maximize local solar power production, or charging using Direct Load Control (DLC), in which the supplier of the solution can steer the charging session according to real-time data. In comparison to other competitors in smart charging solutions, Vattenfall has the ability to influence energy tariffs, which was also something recognized by consumers during interviews. Also, there are currently no relevant TOU tariffs available. Therefore, the development of a smart charging proposition primarily focused on the design of new TOU tariffs. In addition, consumer preference towards all three smart charging scenarios is investigated. The challenge is to design an implementation roadmap that incorporates these various scenarios of smart charging. Two interesting TOU tariffs were developed. Tariff Short Peak is a tariff with a peak price between 19h to 21h. The peak price should discourage people from using electricity during that time period - e.g. avoid to charge the car. The other tariff - called Daytime Plunge - offers a low price during the night and during the day from 11h - 17h, when solar power usually peaks and wholesale energy prices are usually low. Interviews to investigate desirability of both tariffs reveal that interest in these tariffs vary among consumers, and is partly determined by the financial advantage, but also by the type of consumer and their personal needs and routines. This variety in types of consumer and their preferences resulted in four different persona’s that show the diversity of people among EV drivers. The size of these persona groups and preference among these groups for one of the two tariffs give insight in the order and pacing in which these tariffs should be introduced. Next to the development of new TOU tariffs, it was found that giving a financial incentive for the other two scenarios of smart charging, namely charging using DLC and using your own solar power, interests EV drivers. An implementation roadmap brings together the introduction of new tariffs, DLC and solar compensation, with the customer groups and plots them into three horizons. Each horizon introduces a vision relevant for Vattenfall to determine the focus of smart charging for that period.