Small-scale farms are vital to Europe’s food sovereignty, biodiversity, and ecological resilience. Yet, they are vanishing at an alarming rate. While industrialised agriculture has introduced certain efficiencies, it has also resulted in monocultures, the decline of rural communities, and widespread ecological degradation. Despite various policy efforts, smallholders continue to encounter increasing systemic pressures. This thesis explores the role of Precision Agriculture Technologies (PATs) in this context - not merely as tools for efficiency, but as potential enablers of smallholder autonomy, resilience, and sustainability. It evaluates both the benefits and the limitations of their adoption.

This research challenges the dominant techno-solutionist narrative, arguing that current implementations of PATs often reinforce the very structural inequalities they aim to address. These technologies tend to favour large agribusinesses, often putting farmers at a disadvantage by establishing new dependencies. By emphasising the gap between technological design and the everyday experiences of smallholders, the study reconsiders innovation as a social and systemic problem, rather than merely a technical one.
This thesis investigates how PATs can be reimagined to truly assist small-scale agriculture, drawing on thorough fieldwork and collaboration with farmers. The outcome is CropKit, a modular, open-source agricultural technology ecosystem tailored to meet the unique needs of smallholders. Central to this system is the CropKit Base, a lightweight and compact micro-tractor designed for flexibility and ease of use across various farming conditions. Functioning like a two-wheel tractor, the Base features three levels of autonomous control, allowing farmers to choose the most suitable interface for each task. Its functionality is further enhanced by a variety of modular attachments, which boost its adaptability. Collectively, these elements create a versatile system that integrates physical usability with digital insights, enabling gradual, accessible adoption while empowering farmers to remain autonomous stewards of their land.

Ultimately, this thesis calls for a radical rethinking of how agricultural technologies are conceived and implemented - not as top-down solutions, but as collaborative tools for systemic change. In the face of ecological crisis, it advocates for technologies that serve farmers, not the other way around, and places small-scale farms at the centre of a resilient and sustainable agricultural future. ... Read more

This report presents the design of a robotic assistant aimed at supporting professional painters by reducing physical strain and improving efficiency on the job. The three main design goals were to define the robot’s desired functionalities, design an intuitive user interaction, and create a physical embodiment that aligns with the aesthetic preferences of painters.

The painting profession poses significant physical and ergonomic challenges. Painters often carry heavy materials, work in awkward positions, and perform repetitive motions, leading to long-term health problems and dropouts. As a result, the field struggles to attract younger workers, making it necessary to introduce an innovation to reduce the physical workload.

A user-centered design approach was applied to develop an ideal robotic assistant tailored to the needs of painters. By involving painters throughout each phase of the project, the design process ensured the solution closely aligned with their expectations and increased the likelihood of user acceptance. This research explored how a robotic cart could help reduce physical workload, encourage better ergonomic practices, and improve overall efficiency on the job. It also addressed broader challenges in the painting profession, such as weather-dependent task planning and communication within multilingual teams.

Painters from both industrial and residential contexts were involved in the entire design process through interviews, site visits, co-creation sessions, and user evaluations. The project explored various functionalities and forms of the robot, and iteratively developed a concept based on user feedback. Prototypes, sketches, models and other visual tools were used to generate and evaluate ideas.

Early on in the process, interviews revealed that while painters are resistant to robots performing painting tasks, they are open to a supportive robotic assistant. One that stays close by, carries and organises their tools and materials, measures temperature and humidity level and gives weather advice to improve planning their tasks, charges batteries for their electronic devices, lights up the workspace, and helps with communication. The robot should be robust, sleek, easy to use, and visibly present to avoid accidents. Painters wanted to control the behaviour of the robot through simple operating modes like “follow,” “work,” and “park.”. To accommodate different user preferences, the robot can be operated using voice commands or an interactive screen.

The project serves as a solid foundation for a feasible, accepted robotic solution for professional painers. Future work should focus on technical development, interface testing, manufacturability, and business feasibility to move the product toward real-world implementation. ... Read more

Context and Aim
Industrial workers, particularly painters, face significant health risks due to prolonged exposure to airborne dust and fine particulates. While personal protective equipment (PPE) such as respirators exists, adoption remains low due to discomfort, restricted mobility, and usability challenges. This project aims to develop a wearable air curtain system designed to reduce dust exposure while ensuring seamless integration into daily tasks without interfering with workflow or comfort.

Approach
The research employs a multi-method approach to ensure both technical efficiency and user acceptance. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are used to optimize nozzle airflow distribution, ensuring maximum dust protection. Power efficiency analysis is conducted to minimize energy consumption while maintaining effective performance. Iterative prototyping and lab testing refine the system’s functionality, weight distribution, and ergonomics to enhance wearability. To evaluate usability, user studies with industrial painters are conducted, incorporating observations, interviews, and wearability trials to assess comfort and practicality in real-world settings. Additionally, the design is guided by and evaluated with PPE safety regulations, including CE standards, to ensure alignment with industry safety benchmarks.

Results
Findings from CFD simulations and real-world testing will inform nozzle geometry improvements, while user feedback will drive ergonomic refinements. By integrating technical validation with human-centered design, this project aims to create a practical, market-ready air curtain PPE solution that enhances worker safety, comfort, and adoption, ultimately improving protection against hazardous dust in industrial environments. ... Read more

This project investigates how Mixed Reality (MR) can enhance the experience of Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) for crafting tasks, aiming to preserve the positive aspects of user experience and feeling of craftsmanship.
Initiated with an interest in the growth of MR and robotic automation, the research examines how MR might bridge the gap between user satisfaction and the increasing robot implementation in automating tasks execution. While automation streamlines repetitive or labour-intensive tasks, it often removes aspects that contribute to user engagement and job satisfaction. MR, as an immersive and interactive tool, offers a promising solution to enabling users to control and collaborate with robots in a more intuitive and meaningful way.
The project is built around the research question: “How can a unilateral vision-based control system, implemented through a Mixed Reality headset, enable telemanipulation of a robotic arm for crafting purposes, without disrupting the user’s experience and performance?”
The study defines MR’s unique potential for HRI by leveraging vision-based hand-tracking to control a robotic arm, specifically in a crafting task. A prototype was developed to explore the interaction dynamics, using, due to technical constraints, virtual reality to simulate the MR interaction and the robot The primary goal was to design an interaction system that offers full control of spatial navigation and force application, allowing the direct and real-time adjustments essential to a crafting task.
The iterative design process involved testing multiple prototypes with users, identifying challenges and the experience in relation to craftsmanship. Key issues identified included difficulty in manipulating the robot precisely, due to the absence of haptic feedback, limited visual depth awareness, and a reliance on visual-only feedback, which, while informative, have a low robustness and clutters the user interface. These findings lead to the design of three revised prototypes with various constraint levels, one with full user autonomy, one with low constraints and a one highly constrained, to test the impact on user experience and task effectiveness and find the right balance between user control and ease of manipulation.
The results indicate that the low-constraint system provided the most positive user experience, finding the right balance between user control and guidance while maintaining the essential qualities of craftsmanship. Although MR offers a viable framework for enhancing user experience in HRI, the research highlights limitations in replicating the experience of real-world crafting. The study concludes by recommending that future MR applications should leverage MR’s unique qualities, rather than simply mimicking traditional crafting qualities, to foster novel, user-centred interactions.
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This project explores the potential of Fizzy, an interactive robotic ball, to enhance engagement and therapeutic outcomes for neurodivergent children in special education settings. Neurodivergent individuals often require specialized education to support their unique physical, social, and cognitive needs, making engagement crucial for their skill development and well-being. Therapists play a key role in helping these children develop various skills, but maintaining engagement in therapeutic activities can be challenging, as the extrinsic goals of therapy may not always align with children’s intrinsic motivation for play. Fizzy aims to bridge this gap by aligning therapists’ objectives with children’s intrinsic motivations, fostering a more engaging and effective learning environment.

Testing with a concept prototype of Fizzy demonstrated its effectiveness in mediating engagement, promoting classroom rules and promoting skill development across multiple domains. A documented library of behaviours with the card set provides empirical data on how therapists used Fizzy, the therapeutic value it brought to activities, and children’s reactions to having Fizzy in those activities, offering insights for future research and design.
The ethnographic studies led to the development of Fizzy EDU—a comprehensive service system concept consisting of a hub, fizzy the ball, a remote, and an app. This evolution from the initial prototype to Fizzy EDU underscores the importance of adaptable technology that meets the specific needs of its users while highlighting Fizzy’s varying roles in cognitive, physical, and social tasks. Fizzy EDU offers a direct alignment with educational and therapeutic objectives, making it a promising tool for special education settings. ... Read more

The hospitality industry, struggling with significant staff shortages, has increasingly turned to service robots as a solution. However, the prevalent service robot’s design with anthropomorphic appearance is considered inharmonious with the fine-dining restaurant ambiance and may harm the guests’ perception of the service. An alternative approach is exemplified by Rober, which adopts a design resembling a traditional cart. The non-anthropomorphic design offers flexibility, economic efficiency, and enhanced acceptability in hospitality settings. However, it also raises challenges in expressing intentions that are typically conveyed through human non-verbal cues. Consequently, the movement quality of service robots becomes a critical area of design to facilitate nuanced human-robot interaction (HRI) in hotel restaurant contexts.
The research focused on two main questions: how to design robot movement to facilitate essential interaction and collaboration qualities during dining experiences, and how to craft these movements using a dramaturgic performative approach. The project employed methodologies like speculative enactment and Extended Reality (XR) experiments to explore and evaluate robot movements. These methods allowed for creative ideation and assessments of the robot’s movements in simulated dining scenarios.
The project’s findings revealed that specific robot movements, including refined presence, prompted actions, and engaging addresses, significantly enhance the experience of guests, staff, and managers of the hotel restaurant. The robot’s role was envisioned as an ‘Ensemblist,’ a term encapsulating its function as an integral yet unobtrusive participant in the fine dining scene. This role demands the robot be ‘response-able,’ adapting to the fine dining rhythm. Furthermore, the project’s performative approach illuminated methods to design the robot’s movement as expressively meaningful and contextually appropriate. Methodological reflections revealed the effectiveness of speculative enactment and XR experiments in capturing the complexities of human-robot interactions, though suggesting future improvements in prototype fidelity, participant diversity, and advanced data treatment.
This project contributes to the field of HRI in hospitality, bridging theoretical concepts with practical applications. It lays the groundwork for future research in service robot design, emphasizing the need for nuanced interaction designs that resonate with human users in the hospitality sector. ... Read more

This project develops a novel assistive technology for aiding in mobility of the Visually Impaired in collaboration with Royal Visio. This technology provides VIPs with a dynamic tactile map of their environment to improve spatial awareness. The aim is to improve overview, wayfinding and orientation, while also improving the overall mobility experience by boosting confidence and independence through comprehensive awareness of the environment.
The initial research phase seeked to understand the needs and challenges in mobility faced by VIPs, both from a functional point of view, focusing on wayfinding and orientation, and on a psychosocial level, focusing on emotional and experiential needs that derive from the process. It was found that the absence of the visual sense significantly limits VIPs’ ability to overview and comprehend their surroundings, hindering their orientation and use of distant environmental reference for movement, resulting in the reliance on physical guidelines. Reduced awareness of potential hazards and complicated wayfinding often leads focus the functional aspects of mobility. They experience a vigilant, alert state of mind, focusing mainly on avoiding risks and not losing their way. This intense focus diminishes engagement with the broader environment and leads VIPs to stick to familiar areas. Such limitations impact their independence but also their connection with society.
The review of current assistive solutions reveals that they primarily concentrate on similar functional aspects of mobility, using interface technologies that fall short in significantly enhancing environmental awareness and reducing the perceived lack of environmental awareness.
This gap highlights the need for assistive technologies that focus not only on wayfinding and navigation but also on these experiential aspects. The project proposes a multidimensional, spatial interface technology akin to conventional tactile maps but of dynamic nature, is capable of real-time updates based on the actual environment, moves along with the user and subsequently is able to display non-static and small-scale environmental elements. This dynamic tactile map aims to provide a deeper sense of environmental awareness and understanding.
In the subsequent research-through-design phase, a prototype of the conceptual product, that provides a dynamic top-view map of the environment on an electronic braille screen, is put to the test. Despite highlighting the potential of this conceptual direction for spatial understanding, orientation and free, confident movement, the experiment reveals significant requirements for improvement of the interface and environmental mapping technologies.
The final design, “Immersive Spatial Awareness,” features an improved interface with in the form of a haptic augmented reality system that enables a dynamic 360° 3D perception of the environment, primarily through touch, but supplemented with multisensory elements. While significant technological development and Human-Centred-Design is required to realise this visionary concept, the applied technologies are grounded in actual research and existing technologies that see rapid development, highlighting the realistic potential of the concept. The design is supplemented with a roadmap that details and presents the development process towards the successful application of this technology. ... Read more

This study introduces a new design for the drivetrain of a robotic ball. An application for the robotic ball is a rehabilitation device for young children. With these children, movement can be stimulated in a more intuitive way when a robotic ball is used compared to other training programs. Since the ball will be kicked and played with, an important requirement is the ability to handle multiple impacts, i.e. the ball is impact-resistant. Additional requirements are the ability to roll like a normal ball (the center of gravity is in the center of the ball) and maintain low weight and cost. The final design is found through iterative testing and shape optimization of the individual components. The impact resistance of the final design is met by protecting from torque overload and the possibility of absorbing shocks, however, the latter still requires testing to confirm the drivetrain's impact resistance. The proposed design successfully fulfills the size and weight requirements for implementation in a robotic ball, representing a promising step toward creating a robotic ball with enhanced impact resistance. A subject for future research remains the development of the complete robotic ball, with a shell and suspension mechanism. ... Read more

Navigating consequential decisions is a difficult task in and of itself, especially when they have a significant impact on one's life. This is especially true in the complex world of healthcare, where the importance of choices is magnified. The complexities of these issues can make it difficult for patients and their loved ones to effectively address them while dealing with increased stress and uncertainty. Medical professionals are also under immense pressure to ensure the well-being of their patients.

In such scenarios, the indispensable role of decision support tools (DSTs) becomes apparent. These invaluable resources aid both patients and healthcare professionals in selecting the optimal treatment option by carefully considering the risks and benefits involved. DSTs play a vital role in empowering individuals to make well-informed decisions by providing relevant information and facilitating comprehensive analysis. These tools enable the evaluation of various treatment options or potential outcomes. Some DSTs are data-driven, relying on prognostic algorithms. By utilizing analytical methods and algorithms on clinical data, they can offer predictions on survival rates, chances of recurrence, and estimated quality of life, particularly in diseases such as cancer.

Although data scientists have worked consistently to develop algorithms and guarantee the validity of the data used, there has been a noticeable lack of focus on defining the qualities of appropriate interaction with decision support tools. Numerous critical aspects remain unclear, such as identifying the appropriate qualities of interaction with a DST, determining the optimal delivery method for these tools, determining the optimal point in the care path to introduce them, specifying the relevant data to be provided to the DST, and deciding what information should be delivered to empower patients in their decision-making process. Furthermore, the integration and practical implementation of DSTs within the time limitations and complex dynamics of the medical context have been widely disregarded.

In this graduation project, we adopt a speculative design perspective to explore the future of data-driven healthcare. We aim to imagine how DSTs can become meaningful and sustainable components of the care path. Through a process of futurology, we envision an alternative future (or present) to contribute to the doctor and patient (as human actors) seeing the DST (the non-human actor) literally as partners in making decisions. ... Read more

Cooking is an essential part of most people’s day-to-day lives. It is a dynamic activity that involves multitasking, timing of tasks, and flexibility. However, the available instruction methods for cooks who wish to follow recipes are quite rigid and linear. This project aims to create a design solution that provides instructions in a way that is in better accordance with natural cooking behaviours.

The scope of the project is to deliver a conceptual instruction-based cooking tool that utilizes Artificial Intelligence. While designing the solution, speculative design methods are considered in order to design for the near future. It is designed for a future where tasks in recipe instructions can be used more flexibly in digital products and Human Activity Recognition can accurately recognize complex cooking actions with mobile devices. The design solution has been created for a company called Verdify. Verdify is a food tech company with products that aim to allow users to achieve fully personalized nutrition. Swapmeals is their recipe platform that allows users to swap ingredients to fit their dietary needs while adjusting instructions accordingly and maintaining flavour profiles. The design solution aims to ultimately live on this recipe platform. The project is executed with a User-centered Design approach which involves end-users in the design process in order for them to have an impact on their final product.

The users were observed while cooking with instructions in order to understand the pain points that should be designed for. The most prevalent and significant themes that emerged from the study were that users experience cognitive overload while cooking and often experience uncertainty in the cooking process.

Academic design solutions and commercial products for hands-free instruction-based cooking were reviewed to understand which issues, discovered in the context research, have not been designed for. This gap is used to specify design requirements. The requirements specify that the design solution should allow home-cooks to use recipe instructions in a way that is hands-free, non-linear, informative, and that minimally interrupts the cooking flow along with reducing their cognitive load and the associated negative emotions. The solution is also required to allow the user to mainly focus on the task at hand; the device should manage the remaining responsibilities. Lastly, the research discovered that the design solution should create the experience of cooking a new recipe similarly to how one would cook a familiar recipe.

Solutions were explored that meet the specified requirements. The exploration led to 2 contrasting concepts that aim to improve instruction-based cooking in a familiar textual manner and an innovative experiential manner. These 2 concepts were tested with users in order to compare the newly defined interaction methods and understand which interactions are desired in the various moments of the cooking process. The results generated an iterated list of requirements to be applied to the final design.

Lastly, a conceptual instruction-based cooking design solution was introduced; a user interface that utilizes Human Activity Recognition for user-to-product communication. The tool adopts the cognitive load from its users by managing timing and their progression while adjusting to the user’s autonomous adaptations to the recipe. The design solution is an interactive, hands-free, and informative recipe instruction solution. It allows home-cooks to let go of keeping an overview of the cooking process and instead solely focus on the task at hand, allowing cooking to be a worry-free and enjoyable activity for even the tensest home-cooks. ... Read more

It is difficult for people to find strategies that fit their needs for changing behaviors. This project investigates how individuals can be supported to reflect on their health behaviors through the use of technology. Through various research and design methods, the project provides a comprehensive overview of the literature on reflections, how technology can support them, how they can assist in the behavior change process, and how to design for reflections. The identification of nine core reflection needs and the creation of a design space lead to a design concept and a prototype. The project reveals that helping people to reflect is a promising approach to helping them change behaviors. There are many ways to design for reflection, and the Reflection Card created in this project successfully helps people to do so. Reflections not only lead to self-insights, but they are also desirable due to their inherent qualities of slowness, deliberateness, and inefficiency. In a world designed around efficiency and speed, it is a refreshing approach to support people in their behavior change process. ... Read more

With the rise of digital technologies including artificial intelligence, machine learning, and sensor technologies, all the products we use every day are increasingly becoming ‘intelligent’. Machines, objects, and tools are slowly evolving into robots, objects-with-intent (Rozendaal et al., 2019), and agents. At the same time, their capabilities are also increasing. These capabilities come from their ability to process large amounts of data. In this digital era, how can designers create user-centric solutions by leveraging the strengths of these digitally-enabled products at an early stage in the design process?

This thesis explores this topic in the context of pedestrian mobility. More specifically, outdoor mobility for people with vision impairments. When people with vision impairments travel, they must process an extensive amount of spatial information without relying on their vision. How can an agent partner with these users to make this process less demanding and thus, make it easier for people with vision impairments to travel independently?

Combining these two visions, this thesis focuses on uncovering the problem areas, information needs, and desires of PVIs traveling outdoors by leveraging behavioral data. Two main user studies, both involving different types of behavioral data have been explored.

Based on the exploratory research, in which physiological data was collected, two behavioral states, ‘following’ and ‘reorienting’, were identified. These two states also reflected the PVI's mental state, moments of ease, and moments of uncertainty. This inspired the initial idea for a user-aware navigation agent, which could announce different types of data depending on whether the user was ‘following’ a route or ‘reorienting’ on the route.

In the evaluative research, the agent’s capability to detect the two states was tested by training a machine learning algorithm. In addition, a second evaluative user study was conducted to test the hypothesis of the information needs in the ‘following’ and ‘reorienting‘ states. The study setup was designed to generate a new type of behavioral data, which consists of the location users requested additional information. Thus, the user needs were quantified.

This kind of behavioral data; one that embeds rich information about the user needs, becomes the building block of future prototypes of the user-aware navigation agent. Those iterations will then produce more data that embed further insights. This positive feedback cycle will be key to keeping the PVIs constantly in the product development loop and hopefully, result in a navigation agent that allows PVIs to easily travel safely and independently.
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Future introduction on automated vehicles (levels 3, 4, and 5) in urban traffic comes with several societal benefits, but also challenges. One of the biggest challenges that the research community expects from this introduction is the possible problems or critical situations caused by the lack of interpersonal communication between drivers and vulnerable road users in the form of eye contact or hand gestures. To solve this problem, external Human-Machine Interfaces seem to be a suitable solutions to enable AV-VRU communication. This project reviews relevant literature on eHMI design and Human-Robot interaction to identify current knowledge gaps. Moreover, generative user research was used to identify needs and wants from vulnerable road users when interacting with motorized vehicles in traffic. Predictability, perception of vehicle’s awareness, and knowing how to act around automated vehicles were found to be key elements for smooth interactions in scenarios that were considered critical by research participants, namely crossings without traffic lights and being passed by vehicles that share the road with cyclists.
In order to approach the problem, an iterative design process was followed to identify the best communication modalities and modes to be included in a final flexible and multimodal eHMI design, showing the potential of abstract light patterns and dynamic projections to enable AV transparency. The final design was evaluated through a video-based experiment in which participants were exposed to a baseline condition and the same scenario with the addition of the eHMI. This evaluation showed an improvement in the experience qualities evaluated in the presence of the eHMI designed, showing overall desirability and pointing out simplicity and flexibility as crucial qualities to design external communication systems. ... Read more

This report first discusses the phenomenon of aging, how it is commonly understood, and the state-of-the-art of the technology for aging people (gerontechnology) (chapter 1). In the analysis, the author briefly describes the origin and development of the notion of aging through medical, social, and cultural lenses. How the negative narrative around aging has hamstrung the innovation for older people is presented by enumerating three types of design pitfalls identified in today’s mainstream gerontechnology. Drawing on a body of literature (e.g. the ‘successful aging model’ and the ‘personhood turn’ in the ‘care model’) and projects, the author shows new voices attempting to overturn this negative narrative. The Capability Approach (CA), especially Nussbaum’s capability theory which provides a concrete and substantive normative foundation for probing into older people’s lives is introduced (chapter 3 prologue). Interviews are conducted to obtain in-depth understanding of people's needs, wants, and challenges (chapter 3). Based on the literature research and empirical studies, a gap between the real needs and wants emerging in the aging process and what is provided by current mainstream gerontechnology is identified (tension 1) (chapter 4).
Informed by several inspiring design frameworks or theories (e.g. design for appropriation, end-user development, ambiguity in design, meta-design), the author proposed design for openness as a potential design strategy to address the first tension (chapter 5 prologue). What is so powerful about ‘openness’ in design is its potential to satiate various needs over time, in the meanwhile, promote autonomy in users. A theoretical model is theorized to provide firm design handles (chapter 5 prologue). Next, co-speculation sessions are conducted to gather situated knowledge and to experiment with the idea of design for openness (chapter 5). Findings from the sessions reveal the potential risk of leaving the design completely open: ineffective appropriation caused by misalignment between use and design (chapter 5). How to lower the seemingly paradoxical misalignment between design and use while still maintain the openness in design becomes the focus of the rest this research (tension 2) (chapter 5).
A concept artifact is crafted as an explorative attempt to address the misalignment between use and design (chapter 6). Next, the evaluation of the concept artifact is conducted which results in rich design implications (chapter 7). Insights from the evaluation sessions also help further develop the theoretical model (chapter 8). An alternative design process that's different from the traditional one is put forward and limitations are discussed and directions for future research are sketched out (chapter 8). The report closes by reflecting on the whole project and summarizing the main contributions of this project (chapter 9).
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Childhood cancer is a disruptive life event that creates high levels of stress and anxiety in families. It turns everyday routines up-side-down, and can block the child’s psychosocial development when families have difficulties to emotionally cope with this potentially traumatic event. D’Olivo developed three interactive objects aimed at preserving space for quality time and stimulate interpersonal communication between family members. These objects were deployed in the homes of children who are receiving cancer treatment in order to better understand how families responded to them, and whether they were appropriate to support their situation. The broader question addressed by the work is ‘how can vulnerable users be empowered by design in sensitive settings?’. Tactfulness was found to be a critical expressive design quality of such objects, leading to the idea of Tactful Objects as a design perspective on interactive artefacts that function in sensitive settings. According to this perspective, designing tactful objects for sensitive settings means to design objects that behave like sensitive partners, establish a balanced collaboration with people, resemble familiar characters and maintain a discreet presence in the context where they are introduced. The thesis discusses the practical value of Tactful Objects in healthcare as well as the methodological implications of conducting Research-through-Design in sensitive settings. ... Read more

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. ... Read more

Leisure is defined by the Cambridge dictionary as: “The time when you are not working or doing other duties.” During this time, people engage in a broad variety of activities. They engage in these activities because they want to and because it makes them happy in some way. Newman et al (2013) researched the underlying psychological pathways by which leisure evokes happiness. They proposed five core psychological mechanisms through which leisure promotes subjective well-being (SWB). These mechanisms are detachment-recovery, autonomy, mastery, meaning and affiliation. Which activity triggers which mechanism, can differ per person and one activity can trigger multiple mechanisms.This project focuses on the mechanism of detachment-recovery. By utilising a user-centred approach, it was found that people were not always satisfied with their leisure time, more specifically with the recovery time they spent on the couch. The dissatisfaction had two main causes. Firstly, they were distracted from the activity they were engaging in. Secondly, they spent longer on the couch then they initially had intended to. To tackle those two causes, a smart pillow was designed.The concept of a smart pillow came to fruition by using a new perspective on smart objects, the perspective of objects with intent (OwI) (Rozendaal, Boon, & Kaptelinin, 2019). Objects with intent are everyday objects that act as collaborative partners in human activity. OwI’s are a type of agent and they take advantage of the meaning of everyday things as a site for intelligence and agency. Rozendaal et al (2019) prototyped the concept of an OwI by using a wizard of Oz style of prototyping (WoZ). In this setup, the researcher acted as the sensors and intelligence of the Object. In this project, I take a step towards the design of a fully autonomous OwI by applying a data-enabled design approach (J. van Kollenburg & S. Bogers, 2019).In this project, I explore how I can apply a data-enabled design approach. I show my approach, the tools I use, the visualisations I have made and the insight I have gained. By doing this I aim to inform fellow industrial design students on how they also can apply the data-enabled design. In this process, one specific visualisation was found to be very useful. This was a 3D representation of the prototype of the pillow in which data gathered by sensors in the prototype were visualised on the 3D representations. This representation was an animation which was matched with video recordings of the usage of the pillow. ... Read more

Daily stress is a problem that many people are suffering from. In previous research a prototype was developed to help users to identify their own stressful places and encourage them to conduct self-training exercises in those locations. This prototype is called ‘Grippy’. The goal of this project is to explore what qualities Grippy’s vibration signal should have, to appropriately warn the user of upcoming stress. Three knowledge gaps are identified. First, how the vibration strength of the signal influences the noticeability, audibility and disruption of the vibration signal. Second, what environmental factors influence the noticeability of wrist-mounted vibration signals. And third, how we could design respectful vibration signals that grab the users attention. Three experiments have been performed. Experiments one and two used 14 and 7 participants respectively to measure at which vibration strength Grippy’s vibration signals are noticeable to the user and bystanders respectively. With the insights from these two experiments, a new stress alert signal is proposed. This signal is tested in a third auto-introspective experiment. In this experiment we also explore ‘how Grippy fulfils the qualities of wearable partners in daily life’. The proposed stress alert signal is found to be discreet and respectful in most situations. These include social situations like presenting, listening and talking, but also shopping, walking, studying and playing piano. During cycling the proposed stress alert signal was not consistently noticeable. In addition, short disruptions in the environment such as arm movement and gusts of wind could temporarily distract from or mask the vibration signal. This report concludes that a continuous vibration signal at a fixed vibration strength is likely an appropriate way of alerting users in most situations, but that adaptation of the vibration strength to detect cycling like situations will be necessary. ... Read more

Young children often lack opportunities to play in a physically active way. This is particularly the case for children with cancer and other chronic diseases, who regularly undergo periods of hospitalization. Promoting their physical activity and play can contribute to their health, wellbeing, and development. This thesis develops ‘Playscapes’ – a design perspective that emphasizes the unstructured and spontaneous nature of young children’s physical activity. Playscapes encourages designers to enable such physical activity through the design of open-ended and ambiguous playthings. By designing such playthings for children with cancer, this thesis contributes to turning hospital environments, such as patient rooms and waiting areas, into potential ‘landscapes for physical activity and play’. ... Read more

In the Netherlands 1.5% of persons with an intellectual disability have children, most of these parents only have mild intellectual disabilities (Willems, De Vries, Isarin & Reinders, 2007). In practice this means that a few thousand children have parents with a mild intellectual disability (De Vries, 2005). Research shows that there is a limited system capacity to support parents with mild intellectual disabilities (MID). Whereas most other parents can rely on their social network when they need support with child rearing, parents with MID have to rely on the care system (McConnell, Matthews, Llewellyn, Mildon, & Hindmarsh, 2008) because of their limited social network. Given the likely increase in parents with MID (Feldman, 1994) and the increased risks for their children there is a need to empower these parents and stimulate their self efficacy. This master thesis focuses on exploring different possibilities to create an intelligent support tool to empower parents with MID and stimulate their self efficacy through design. Elaborate, explorative user research resulted in concept Luna; an intelligent support tool to empower parents with a mild intellectual disability by providing them with extra structure during the eating routine in a pro-active way. At the end of the afternoon just before dinner time, Luna starts up by making a sound. Luna is an interactive table projector. A projection of plates and cutlery on the table at a given time is used as an intuitive way to motivate parents to set the table by imitating the projection. If a parent places a plate, Luna will give a positive feedback sound. Luna will make a positive feedback noise to confirm the good behavior of the parent. When the table is fully set, the projections of the plates and cutlery will disappear supported by sound; providing the parent with extra visual and auditive positive feedback. The design enables parents to snooze the projection. The parent can decide to delay the time the projection starts. The snooze function provides the parent with a feeling of autonomy. The parent can decide to delay the time the projection starts. This feeling of autonomy is an important element of the design. The design fosters collaboration. One of the requirements that was set at the start of the project is that parents should feel in control, they should feel like they could collaborate with the design like partners. (Oomen, 2009; Durinck & Racquet, 2003; Het Nederlands Jeugdinstituut, 2014). However, the actual amount of autonomy is limited. The design can only be snoozed for three times and with each snooze the snoozing time will decrease. The results of this master thesis could be valuable for creating a behavioral change within the same target group for other activities, but for other target groups as well by teaching routine behavior through repetition and structure assisted by visual and auditive feedback in a pro-active way. With only little adjustments the design could empower any target group. The amount of possible applications is infinite. ... Read more