From E2E to Ecosystem: Integrating Various Solutions
Brainstorming Ideas 🧠
After Sprint 4, our team had a clear design direction focused on bridging the knowledge gap around manufacturers’ familiarity with robots and demystifying them through easy and safe interactions with robotic technologies.
For Sprint 5, we began with an ideation phase where each team member generated potential solutions aimed at achieving that overarching design goal. Through this process, we landed on 5 distinct concepts ideas targeting different audiences, intervention points along ARM’s E2E process, user contexts where interactions would occur, and delivery channels:
- Spatial Computing: AR goggles that ARM can bring to manufacturering sites for users to envision how robots could be incorporated into their facilities
- Interactive Robotic Arm: a physical robotic arm at ARM’s space with an intuitive digital interface enabling users to control robot movements while learning about different robot types
- Remote Sandbox Connection: a web application for manufacturers to remotely explore, test, and operate robots asynchronously to build comfort level and facilitate adoption
- Card Activity Kit: a set of physical cards depicting different robot types matched to various manufacturing use cases
- Chat Bot: AI assistant to answer questions about robots and other advanced manufacturing technologies in a timely manner
Rather than treating these as isolated concepts, we realized the potential of an interconnected experience where one solution may link to others. We bundled them together into a cohesive ecosystem of education and exposure tools that ARM could strategically incorporate into their communication and collaboration with small manufacturers.
The ecosystem approach allows ARM to meet manufacturers wherever they currently are on the spectrum of technical proficiency and interest in robotics and automation. For example, an interactive physical ARM model could provide hands-on experience manipulating robots for users who are present on ARM’s site, while the simple Card Kit could serve as an approachable, low-tech introduction for novices to explore robotics remotely.
Validating Ideas 📋
To effectively convey the concepts to ARM and gather feedback, our team created mockups for each idea to help visualize them as well as storyboards demonstrating how they could be used in different contexts. We also prepared probing questions to facilitate productive discussions that could uncover deeper insights, rather than just collecting yes/no responses.
The concept presentation with ARM went extremely well. The client reacted positively to most of the ideas pitched and provided valuable feedback explaining why some concepts may or may not align perfectly with their needs and audiences.
Making Ideas Come True! 🙌
With this client feedback in hand, the next step is to refine and iterate on the ideas that were perceived as less optimal or incomplete solutions. Once the concepts are fully fleshed out, the team will develop functional prototypes that go beyond just the visual mockups from this phase. Creating functional prototypes is vital for performing realistic user testing and gathering accurate data.
After the prototypes are ready, they will be deployed for comprehensive user testing sessions with actual manufacturers. Observing how manufacturers interact with the prototypes and collecting qualitative feedback will be invaluable for identifying which concepts resonate best, as well as areas that require further iteration. This real-world user data may also uncover new unmet needs or use cases that could be explored and incorporated into the ecosystem.
We’re sharing our Capstone journey to give you a sneak peek into what the MHCI Capstone experience is really like. It’s our way of offering an insider’s perspective on the path to breaking into the UX field. Whether you’re a fellow student, a seasoned professional, or just someone curious about the world of human-computer interaction, we want to invite you to join us on this rollercoaster of creativity and problem-solving. Follow us for regular updates, and if you’ve got thoughts, questions, or just want to chat about UX, we’re all ears!
Note: This project is not intended to contribute to generalizable knowledge and is not human subjects research.
