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The official ending date of this project is Oct, 2021. Unfortunately I would like to stop the project as of Sep 1, 2020 since I got a new job at TU Delft as an Assistant Professor. But below I would like to give a summary of the results I have gained so far.
The overarching aim of this project was to understand how designers can develop AI-embedded smart products that can empower users. Within the first year of the project, the postdoc investigated the design dilemmas that exist when creating AI-driven governance platforms for energy communities so that these communities would be more independent and self-sufficient. This investigation revealed issues related to control delegation, transparency, and negotiation with AI algorithms, which needs to be considered when designing successful AI embedded products (published in the proceedings of the CHI 2020 conference).
The postdoc visited Georgia Tech (Atlanta, USA) in order to explore the socio-technical implications of delivery robots in cities, which revealed many challenges and opportunities in their deployment. These are related to the social and ethical concerns about the liability of the robots for the damage they may cause, the potential intimidation caused by the “robot smog”, providing service and maintenance, the role and responsibilities of robots in the communities, designing specialized infrastructures for the robots to function effectively, and dealing with
unintended uses of delivery robots. The results could provide the interaction design community with an approach to critically reflect on and rethink the design of robots, and any other smart object in that matter, in meaningful and responsible ways (published as a book chapter).
The postdoc had founded a working group called Design4AIgency with two colleagues from TU Delft and UTwente. The group organized the 1st International workshop on Designerly HRI Knowledge in the RO-MAN Conference. The workshop included 12 paper presentations from international researchers, three keynotes, and an interactive session, which all aimed to bridge the Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) field with the design discipline. The workshop revealed the necessity to include design approaches, perspectives, methods and tools in the HRI work to gain generalizable insights from the work done in this field.
Altogether, the results of this project presented the considerations that need to be given when designing AI-embedded products (in the form of platforms, everyday products, or robots), and approaches that would be helpful for meeting these considerations.
With the help of sensors that made data collection and processing possible, many products around us have become “smarter”. The situation that our car, refrigerator, or umbrella communicating with us and each other is no longer a future scenario; it is increasingly a shared reality. There are good examples of such connectedness such as lifestyle monitoring of elderly persons or waste management in a smart city. Yet, many other smart products are designed just for the sake of embedding a chip in something without thinking through what kind of value they add everyday life. In other words, the design of these systems have mainly been driven by technology until now and little studies have been carried out on how the design of such systems helps citizens to improve or maintain the quality of their individual and collective lives.
The CREATE-IT research center creates new solutions and methodologies in “digital design” that contribute to the quality of life of citizens. Correspondingly, this proposal focuses on one type of digital design—smart products—and investigate the concept of empowerment in relation to the design of smart products. In particular, the proposal aims to develop a model with its supplementary tools and methods for designing such products better. By following a research-through-design methodology, the proposal intends to offer a critical understanding on designing smart products. Along with its theoretical contribution, the proposal will also aid the students of ICT and design, and professionals such as designers and engineers to create smart products that will empower people and the industry to develop products grounded in a clear user experience and business model.