Otto

Team:
Xinran (Rannie) Li
Sai Kukkadapu
Ben Wu

Duration:
6 Weeks

Home and IoT:

Home, as the setting where individuals spend the most time, is associated with mental health and well-being, particularly after quarantine. We built an Internet of Things interface that promotes home wellness. As people are working from home more, there is a struggle in creating a clear boundary between work life and home life. Otto is an internet of things device that maintains your ideal vibe among different activities in the home while saving you time to prepare for your next task.

What did I do?

I took the role of system maps, information architecture, illustrations on storyboards, and interface animations, as well as some 3d modeling.

Background：
Due to the pandemic, there was a significant shift from working at the workplace to home. This still remains true after the pandemic.

Secondary
Research

Due to the pandemic, there was a significant shift from working at the workplace to home. This still remains true after the pandemic.

Many studies on the rise of working from home indicate barriers and diversions. Plus, unhealthy work from home diminishes productivity and causes emotional harm.

Research Methods

We used three research methods to dig into the problem:
‍survey, interview, and photo study.
‍
As the pandemic pushes work into the home, our research methods addressed participants' definitions of home and well-being, their feelings and relationship with home and home members, and their daily activities in the home.

SURVEY
35 responses
Ages from 16 - 50
‍
The survey is about relationships with homemates, at-home experiences, and IoT/smart home devices.
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The majority of responses indicate that people have favorable sentiments toward their homes. In general, most participants value home as the union of physical and emotional support. People place a high premium on Convenience, Comfort, Privacy, Safety, and Connecting with Family members. On the other hand, they worry about Noise and Cramped. Isolation could be positive or negative.

INTERVIEW
4 interviewees
Living spaces from studio to house
‍
The interview is about their routine from day to night as well as their smart device experience.
‍
In the interview, we asked participants to sketch maps of their daily routines at home. The bedroom and living room are the central areas. From those data, we found that participants intentionally compartmentalized their homes. Even in open spaces, people purposefully separate and name functional spaces. Also, people value private space and also social areas.

PHOTO STUDY
4 Participants
Spaces from bedrooms to living rooms
‍
The photo study's goal is to zoom in participants' living environments and their relationships with them.
‍
In the interview, we asked participants to take photos of their favorite room and an object that could represent their room. We were aware that desktops and beds are the main content. These findings addressed our directions to the transition of working and relaxing.

Research insights:
People find solace in momentary transitionary periods between tasks. But these moments are currently being wasted with mundane chores to prepare for their next task.

Problem
Statement

We simulated three tasks: Relaxing, Working and Socializing. These are the top three activities that our participants would like to spend time at home. When users come back home, they want a relaxing and comfortable private space where they are not forced to do something. And then users start to work. They need to concentrate and block all distractions, so their productivity can improve. After that when friends come to visit. Users need a distinct notification for their friends versus other visitors and a shift from privacy to socialization quickly.

Situation

Most live in an urban apartment with at least one other roommate that they knew previously.

Pain Point

As people are working from home more, there is a struggle in creating a clear boundary between work life and home life.

Positives

In-between moments in their homes contribute the most to their well-being while at home.

Design Direction

Given research data we had, we prompted HMW statement and four principles: Balance, Autonomy, Subtle and Adaptability. Our goal is to minimize the transition.

HMW
assist renters in creating a healthy work-life balance by utilizing and manipulating one’s existing space?

Balance

A space that accommodates both personal time and social activities.

“Home to me is a place to be myself, to explore different interests from a comfortable place”
— Akhila

Autonomy

A reliable system that provides people with the agency to control and monitor multi-functional tasks.

“I dont trust my Google Mini, why are you listening? But whatever”
— Kristy

Subtle

A solution that isn’t apparent during the day-to-day, and recedes into the background when not in use.

“Something simple and modern, not too visible”
— Shin

Adaptability

A technology that satisfies the various scenarios and personas.

“I wish it could streamline my daily routine”
— Shin

Dive in System:
We defined environments by the atmosphere. Humans perceive space best with sight, hearing, and touch. Thus, we built three IoT scenarios for light, sound, and climate.

IoT System Map

We valued users' input and consent before switching their environment to maintain autonomy with this smart home. After the initial input, such as "I want to work," the IoT would loop between gathering environmental input, adjusting to maintain output, and checking to maintain that until the user changes their environment parameters. It's more about changing the environment to meet human needs.

Storyboard

We have three scenarios for each IoT system. Our goal is to synthesize a system that contains three of them.

Light IoT
We consider three elements of lighting:
COLOR, SOURCE, and BRIGHTNESS.
- Only artificial lights can change colors
- Natural light is active while artificial lights are passive
- Brightness can be used functionally (such as while reading,) or ambiently (watching movies)

Sound IoT
We consider three elements of sound:
ALERTS, AMBIENT, and NOISE.
- Urgent sounds such as a fire alarm, doorbell, or a baby crying would not be filtered out
-Pleasant ambient sounds help promote awareness of the environment
-Noise pollution which interrupts well-being is blocked

Climate IoT
We consider three elements of lighting:
HUMIDITY, TEMP, and AIR QUALITY.
- Humidity may differ based on seasons, scenarios, and individuals.
- Overall the ideal room temperature is 68F, but the ideal temperature may differ based on seasons, scenarios, and individuals
- The default air quality level is anything lower than 100 AQI, while an AQI higher than 100 may cause health issues. Also, personalized settings to address allergies and smells.

Onboarding
Setting up Otto is as simple as pairing your sensors with the Hub by snapping the two devices together.

Once paired, twist and squeeze to select what the sensor monitors and place it anywhere in your space.

Sensor Element
To ensure data is accurate, users can decide what each individual sensor is monitoring. LED indicators will inform users what the sensor is currently monitoring. Ex. a sensor near a heater will not monitor climate effectively.

Safety concern
Once the sensor captures data and transmits it to the hub, the hub evaluates input. However, long-term immersion in a maintained environment may impair the alertness of users. As a result, we have prioritized a few potential threats and prompted a remedy.

LIGHT SENSOR
Since indoor light doesn't have the same spectrum or intensity as natural light, two sensors work at the same time.
‍
If an emergency happens, bright visible light or unstable radiation light, such as fires, would signal the presence of danger.

SOUND SENSOR
Sound recognition is a technology based on Mel-frequency cepstrum, which compares and analyzes the timbre of sounds.
‍
To avoid unawareness of the emergency, urgent sounds such as a fire alarm, doorbell, or a baby crying would not be filtered out.

CLIMATE SENSOR
For temperature, the thermistor and water vapor sensor must measure both relative and absolute values. As for air quality, the density of particles and chemicals helps with intensive or odorless smells
‍
The climate is high relevant to danger, so dramatic temperature change and strong smoke would report as emergency.

Create a mode
When creating a mode, users start off with a general set of parameters. To create a mode, simply choose a preset that best matches your desired mode. Here is our present environment. We used color and abstract terms to depict a setting, rather than the term "study/work mode."

Fine-tuning
After that, users can fine-tune more niche details of each mode. Twist and squeeze the controller to adjust ranges and values for the mode and save.

Gesture interface
Otto is based on the gestural user interface and some graphic interfaces. By simple physical touch to manipulate and interact with digital information, Otto minimizes interference and maximizes accessibility. The input of the gesture interface is the simplest and most intuitive actions: twist and press. The result is haptic vibration as well as a visual screen interface.
‍
Our gesture interface aims to:
- Lower mis-touching
- Physical attachment
- Framework for Familiarity

Speaker
As the central logic of the IoT, the hub is supposed to blend into the background. However, the hub can also be a speaker decorating their space. And if the sensor senses any danger, the hub is supposed to sent the message.

Data visualization
The hub also stores data on running products and visualizes the frequency of usage of modes. When the user attaches the Controller to the Hub and twists it, the walls of the Hub light up and visualize Otto’s usage history. Users are able to see which modes are used most often in different timeframes (indicated on the screen of the controller) via proportion diagrams.

Data privacy
Otto will automatically save from the first time to the present. When the storage is full, however, the hub will delete by timeframe. Usually, the hub is charging all the time. However, no data will be transmitted to the hub if it is off.

Users can delete their data by following the guides on the interface when the controller is attached to the hub.