To date, hundreds of millions of mini-QWERTY keyboard equipped devices (miniaturized versions of a full desktop keyboard) have been sold. Accordingly, a large percentage of text messages originate from fixed-key, mini-QWERTY keyboard enabled mobile phones. Over a series of three longitudinal studies I quantify how quickly and accurately individuals can input text on mini-QWERTY keyboards. I evaluate performance in ideal laboratory conditions as well as in a variety of mobile contexts. My first study establishes baseline performance measures; my second study investigates the impact of limited visibility on text input performance; and my third study investigates the impact of mobility (sitting, standing, and walking) on text input performance. After approximately five hours of practice, participants achieved expertise typing almost 60 words per minute at almost 95% accuracy. Upon completion of these studies, I examine the types of errors that people make when typing on mini-QWERTY keyboards. Having discovered a common pattern in errors, I develop and refine an algorithm to automatically detect and correct errors in mini-QWERTY keyboard enabled text input. I both validate the algorithm through the analysis of pre-recorded typing data and then empirically evaluate the impacts of automatic error correction on live mini-QWERTY keyboard text input. Validating the algorithm over various datasets, I demonstrate the potential to correct approximately 25% of the total errors and correct up to 3% of the total keystrokes. Evaluating automatic error detection and correction on live typing results in successfully correcting 61% of the targeted errors committed by participants while increasing typing rates by almost two words per minute without introducing noticeable distraction.

Robots have growing potential to enter the daily lives of people at home, at work, and in cities, for a variety of service, care, and entertainment tasks. However, several challenges currently prevent widespread production and use of such human-centered robots. The goal of this thesis was first to help overcome one of these broad challenges: the lack of basic safety in human-robot physical interactions. Whole-body compliant control algorithms had been previously simulated that could allow safer movement of complex robots, such as humanoids, but no such robots had yet been documented to actually implement these algorithms. Therefore a wheeled humanoid robot "Dreamer" was developed to implement the algorithms and explore additional concepts in human-safe robotics. The lower mobile base part of Dreamer, dubbed "Trikey," is the focus of this work. Trikey was iteratively developed, undergoing cycles of concept generation, design, modeling, fabrication, integration, testing, and refinement. Test results showed that Trikey and Dreamer safely performed movements under whole-body compliant control, which is a novel achievement. Dreamer will be a platform for future research and education in new human-friendly traits and behaviors. Finally, this thesis attempts to address a second broad challenge to advancing the field: the lack of standard design methodology for human-centered robots. Based on the experience of building Trikey and Dreamer, a set of consistent design guidelines and metrics for the field are suggested. They account for the complex nature of such systems, which must address safety, performance, user-friendliness, and the capability for intelligent behavior. / text

During the last years, we have observed a progressive and continuous expansion of human-centered mobile wireless networks. The advent of these networks has encouraged the researchers to think about new solutions in order to ensure efficient evaluation and design of communication protocols. In fact, these networks are faced to several constraints as the lack of infrastructure, the dynamic topology, the limited resources and the deficient quality of service and security. We have been interested in the dynamicity of the network and in particular in human mobility. The human mobility has been widely studied in order to extract its intrinsic properties and to harness them to propose more accurate approaches. Among the prominent properties depicted in the literature, we have been specially attracted by the impact of the social interactions on the human mobility and consequently on the structure of the network. To grasp structural information of such networks, many metrics and techniques have been borrowed from the Social Network Analysis (SNA). The SNA can be seen as another network measurement task which extracts structural information of the network and provides useful feedback for communication protocols. In this context, the SNA has been extensively used to perform link prediction in social networks relying on their structural properties. Motivated by the importance of social ties in human-centered mobile wireless networks and by the possibilities that are brought by SNA to perform link prediction, we are interested by designing the first link prediction framework adapted for mobile wireless networks as Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANETs) and Delay/Disruption Tolerant Networks (DTN). Our proposal tracks the evolution of the network through a third-order tensor over T periods and computes the sociometric Katz measure for each pair of nodes to quantify the strength of the social ties between the network entities. Such quantification gives insights about the links that are expected to occur in the period T+1 and the new links that are created in the future without being observed during the tracking time. To attest the efficiency of our framework, we apply our link prediction technique on three real traces and we compare its performance to the ones of other well-known link prediction approaches. The results prove that our method reaches the highest level of accuracy and outperforms the other techniques. One of the major contributions behind our proposal highlights that the link prediction in such networks can be made in a distributed way. In other words, the nodes can predict their future links relying on the local information (one-hop and two-hop neighbors) instead of a full knowledge about the topology of the network. Furthermore, we are keen to improve the link prediction performance of our tensor-based framework. To quantify the social closeness between the users, we take into consideration two aspects of the relationships: the recentness of the interactions and their frequency. From this perspective, we wonder if we can consider a third criterion to improve the link prediction precision. Asserting the heuristic that stipulates that persistent links are highly predictable, we take into account the stability of the relationships (link and proximity stabilities). To measure it, we opt for the entropy estimation of a time series proposed in the Lempel-Ziv data compression algorithm. As we think that our framework measurements and the stability estimations complement each other, we combine them in order to provide new link prediction metrics. The simulation results emphasize the pertinence of our intuition. Providing a tensor-based link prediction framework and proposing relative enhancements tied to stability considerations represent the main contributions of this thesis. Along the thesis, our concern was also focused on mechanisms and metrics that contribute towards improving communication protocols in these mobile networks [...]

Mobile e-commerce is an increasing trend. Still, many sales sites are not adapted to mobile interfaces. Important factors in the design of successful e-commerce applications are trust, high quality graphics, and easy navigation. However, a typical design approach is to strip down functionality and this can have a negative impact on the user experience. The goal of this thesis was to create a style guide that can be used to develop responsive e-commerce sites through a mobile first implementation strategy. A style guide was created by applying modern design theory and by investigating existing e-commerce solutions. Moreover, a prototype of an e- commerce solution was developed using the style guide. This prototype was evaluated by an expert group of usability professionals. The study indicates that the style guide is a useful and effective tool in the design and development of e-commerce systems. We conclude that a mobile first strategy needs to be combined with subsequent traditional desktop design.

Cette thèse porte sur la question de la perception des systèmes d’appuis situés à l’intérieur des transports publics urbains, premières interfaces entre l’usager et le matériel roulant, en vue d’améliorer leur confort. Une exploration a été effectuée afin d’objectiver le toucher des surfaces et tenter de caractériser instrumentalement l’interaction entre le voyageur et la surface d’appui, réduit à un toucher tangentiel et à un contact plan/plan. L’étude, liant tribologie et évaluation sensorielle, montre la difficulté inhérente à la mesure des sensations. Des tendances ont été observées entre les données tribologiques et sensorielles et encouragent à poursuivre dans cette voie. En outre, la question du confort est abordée de manière globale et un nouveau cadre d’étude est proposé. Les réflexions initiées ici souhaitent ouvrir la voie vers une nouvelle approche de la conception, l’approche anthropocentrée, venant compléter la vision actuelle très technocentrée du milieu ferroviaire. / This thesis aims to improve passenger comfort in urban public transports by focusing on the perception of supports in the passenger compartment, which are the primary interfaces between the traveler and the rolling stock. An exploration was carried out in order to objectify the touch of surfaces and try to characterize instrumentally the interaction between the passenger and the support, reduced to a tangential touch and a planar contact surface. The study, linking tribology and sensory evaluation, shows the inherent difficulty of the measure of sensations. Tendencies have been observed between tribological and sensory data and encourage to continue on this path. In addition, the notion of comfort is addressed in a comprehensive manner and a new framework is proposed. The reflections initiated in this research wish to pave the way for a human-centered approach for conception, completing the current vision that is very technocentric in the rail environment.

Esta investigação tem o objetivo de apresentar as contribuições do Design Thinking para concepção de interfaces de Ambientes Virtuais de Aprendizagem (AVA) centradas nas necessidades e expectativas do usuário. A literatura aponta que o Design Thinking utiliza a sensibilidade e os métodos dos designers para catalisar a colaboração, a criatividade e a busca por soluções inovadoras pela observação empática e a partir da prototipagem rápida, com análise de diferentes realidades. Assim, partiu-se do pressuposto que a adoção do Design Thinking poderia contribuir para a concepção de interfaces de AVA centradas em fatores humanos, mas que também atendessem a demandas educacionais dos sujeitos envolvidos no ensino e na aprendizagem do Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências (CLC) da Universidade de São Paulo/Universidade Virtual do Estado de São Paulo. A pesquisa, de abordagem qualitativa, foi realizada com 21 estudantes, duas professoras e 16 tutores que participaram de Grupos Focais e entrevistas para discutir, propor soluções e melhorias para as interfaces do AVA do CLC. Pela compreensão de suas necessidades, criou-se um protótipo composto por interfaces alternativas para o AVA investigado. O protótipo foi apresentado para os participantes da investigação que deram novas sugestões para aperfeiçoá-lo. Tais sugestões subsidiaram a elaboração de um segundo protótipo, cujas interfaces foram consideradas inovadoras e de implementação viável por especialistas entrevistados que o avaliaram. Os resultados deste estudo demonstraram que a adoção do Design Thinking apresentou relevantes contribuições para a concepção de interfaces de AVA, tendo em vista que o processo, plano de pensamento (mindsets), métodos e ferramentas da abordagem levaram à criação de interfaces de AVA que atendem às necessidades e expectativas dos seres humanos envolvidos no processo educacional do CLC no que tange à proposta de usabilidade, design gráfico, organização dos conteúdos, ferramentas pedagógicas, de interação/comunicação e de gestão. / This research aims to present Design Thinking contributions for the design and development of Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) interfaces focused on users needs and expectations. Literature suggests that Design Thinking uses the sensitivity and methods of designers for catalyzing collaboration, creativity and the search for innovative solutions through empathic observation, rapid prototyping and analysis on different realities. This study was based on the premise that the adoption of Design Thinking could contribute to the design and development of VLE interfaces centered on human factors, and would also meet the educational needs of those involved in teaching and learning at the undergraduate Teaching Science program (Curso de Licenciatura em Ciências - CLC), offered by the University of São Paulo / Virtual University of São Paulo. The research adopted a qualitative approach, and was carried out with 21 students, two teachers and 16 tutors who took part in focal groups and interviews to discuss, propose solutions and improvements to the programs VLE interfaces. Understanding the participants needs led to the creation of a prototype consisting of alternative interfaces for VLE. The research participants were presented to the prototype and offered suggestions to improve it. Such suggestions supported the development of a second prototype, whose interfaces were considered innovative and feasible for implementation by the experts interviewed. This studys results have shown that the adoption of Design Thinking presented outstanding contributions to the design and development of VLE interfaces, given that the approachs process, mindsets, methods and tools led to the creation of interfaces that meet the needs and expectations of people involved in the educational process at the CLC program in regards to the interfaces usage proposal, graphic design, content organization, educational, interaction/communication and management tools.

The aim of this thesis is to define the concept of the career opportunity map. This map shows first-year students at economic universities the real functions at selected positions in companies. Profiles positions should also point out where management skills are applied in practise. The theoretical part of the thesis is devoted to the definition of basic concepts and techniques of Design Thinking. The next step is to outline methods that are used in the practical part. Likewise, the reader will find here the selected management approach by various authors. The practical part presents a plan of research, outputs of research with experts, outputs of the workshop with the students and the samples of profile jobs. Result of this work will define specific forms of the concept and recommendations for future extension.

Orientador: Antonio Celso Fonseca de Arruda / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-28T00:07:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 RondonCachopo_CindyJanneth_M.pdf: 14082441 bytes, checksum: 57cfd2f3a77c65d3289114fe7207bfa4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2015 / Resumo: Mediante uma abordagem de Design Centrado no Humano (HCD), foram desenvolvidos dois dispositivos para o transporte após da alta hospitalar de "recém-nascidos de baixo peso" (RNBP) com massas entre 1600 g e 2500 g. Um dispositivo foi projetado para uso em automóveis particulares e o outro para uso em veículos coletivos. Buscaram-se dispositivos capazes de minimizar os riscos no transporte de recém-nascidos de baixo peso e tornar mais confortável o transporte destas crianças. O processo de design abarcou 4 etapas: (1) especificar o contexto de uso, (2) especificar os requisitos, (3) produzir soluções de design e (4) avaliar o design. Inicialmente, foram necessários estudos para estabelecer o estado da arte dos produtos existentes no mercado bem como para caracterizar o público-alvo e conhecer o ambiente de uso. Estes estudos permitiram identificar as necessidades de conforto e de segurança dos usuários, as quais definiram os parâmetros dos projetos. As soluções desenvolvidas foram avaliadas iterativamente por meio de uma série de entrevistas com pessoas membros da Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica, membros do pessoal de saúde da área de neonatologia e mães de Recém Nascidos de Baixo Peso, seguida de testes de usabilidade. A abordagem por meio do Design Centrado no Humano envolveu três grupos de usuários: o recém-nascido, os familiares do neonato e o pessoal de enfermaria. Estes três grupos participaram em todo o processo de design, o que possibilitou identificar e conhecer os aspectos importantes para a realização dos projetos e para atingir a aceitação dos usuários / Abstract: The low birth weight infants must be transported under special conditions after hospital discharge. These special conditions are associated with physiological immaturity and low weight state that encourage the need of differentiated retention devices of conventionally existing products. A human-centered design approach was used to develop two solutions for the low birth weight infant transportation, a solution for usage in particular vehicles and another for usage in collective vehicles. The design process embraced 4 phases: (1) specific the context of use (understanding the current conditions of "low birth weight infants" transport and the needs of the users), (2) specify the requirements (translate the needs of the users to requirements that the solutions must meet), (3) produce design solutions, (4) evaluate the designs. Previous studies were necessary to establish the context of use; these have enabled researchers to recognize the most important users¿ needs, which defined the parameters of the projects. The solutions developed were evaluated through a series of interviews, with groups of health staff from Neonatal Area and mothers of low birth weight infants, followed by usability tests. The human-centered design approach embraced three user groups: neonates, family members and health staff. These three groups were involved around the design process, this enabled to meet important aspects for the solutions realization and to achieve user acceptance / Mestrado / Materiais e Processos de Fabricação / Mestra em Engenharia Mecânica

This master thesis concerns industrial workers’motivation and if it can be influenced by informationdissemination through an interactive interface. Focus hasbeen to research human motivators in theory to seehow these can be applied in an industrial environmentwith the hope of giving the workers a deeperknowledge of the company’s product and / or processand thus increasing her motivation. The project is basedon the assumption that an increased understanding intomore than what is limited by the worker’s tasks canhave a positive effect and strengthen his or her sense oftheir role in a wider context.The master thesis shows how a design process can beapplied to an organizational problem in industries,where the different phases of the process includeconcerned people repetitively to seek knowledge, ideasand solutions together with those who may be affectedby the results of the work.In industries today, the workload is usually distributedacross departments where staff are divided into teams.There is some circulation within the department but lesscommonly across departmental boundaries. This canlimit the worker’s perception of the entire process andresult in a detailed understanding of only a limited partof the process.Industry 4.0 is expected to be the solution for retrievingand retaining companies in Europe by building smartfactories with technology that allows the machines tocommunicate. Industry 4.0 is also expected to reduce thenumber who have work in industries, human interactionsand responsibilities. Which may have the negative effect offurther reinforcing one of today’s problems, the workerbeing further isolated from the process. Which are factorsthat, in theory, contribute to a reduced level of motivationand will therefore have a negative impact on their workaspirations.The work has been carried out with RISE Interactive inPiteå as client. RISE is part of our Swedish researchinstitute and works with user-centered technologicaldevelopment in many different industries.The degree project resulted in a large amount of ideas forhow work in industries could benefit from an interactiveinterface for disseminating information and knowledge.The final solution is presented in a stop motion movieshowing the solution that was chosen by industrialworkers. The solution shows how coloured lamps can beused to visualize progress-related information during thecourse of the work at the same time as it enables easycommunication between employees. / Detta examensarbete handlar om industriarbetaresmotivation kan påverkas av informationsspridning genomett interaktivt gränssnitt. Fokus i detta arbete har legat påatt undersöka mänskliga motivatorer i teorin för att sehur dessa kan appliceras i en industriell miljö medförhoppning om att ge arbetaren en djupare kunskap omföretagets produkt och/eller process och således ökadennes förståelse för det dagliga arbetet som bedrivs inomföretaget. Projektet bygger på ett antagande om att enökad insikt och insyn i mer än vad som begränsas avarbetarens arbetsuppgifter kan ha en positiv effekt ochförstärka dennes känsla för sin roll i ett störresammanhang och även ge en ökad motivation.Arbetet redovisar också hur en designprocess kanappliceras på ett organisatoriskt problem inom industrier,där de olika faserna i processen inkluderar berördamänniskor repetitivt för att söka kunskap, idéer ochlösningar tillsammans med dem som kan tänkas bliberörda av arbetets resultat.På industrier idag är det vanligt att arbetet är fördelat överavdelningar där personalen är indelad i olika team där detförekommer viss arbetscirkulation inom avdelning menmindre vanligt över avdelningsgränser. Detta kan limiteraarbetarens uppfattning för hela processen och resultera i endetaljerad förståelse endast för en begränsad del avprocessen.Industri 4.0 förväntas vara lösningen på att hämta hem ochbehålla företag i Europa genom att bygga smarta fabrikermed teknik som tillåter maskinerna att kommunicera.Industri 4.0 förväntas även att minska antalet som jobbatinom industrier, mänskliga interaktioner och ansvar. Vilketkan ha den negativa effekten att förstärka en av dagensproblem ytterligare, arbetaren blir ytterligare isolerad ifrånprocessen. Vilket är faktorer som enligt teorin bidrar till enminskad motivationsnivå och kommer därför ha en negativpåverkan på deras arbetsambitioner.Arbetet har genomförts med RISE Interactive i Piteå somuppdragsgivare. RISE är en del av vårt svenskaforskningsinstitut och jobbar med användarcentreradteknisk utveckling inom många olika branscher.Examensarbetet resulterade i en stor idémängd för hurarbetet inom industrier skulle kunna dra nytta av ettinteraktivt gränssnitt för att sprida information ochkunskap. Den slutliga lösningen är presenterad i enstopmotion film som visar den lösningen som blev framröstad av industriarbetare. Lösningen visar hur färgadelampor kan användas för att synliggöra progressrelateradinformation under arbetets gång samtligt som det möjliggörenkel kommunikation mellan medarbetarna.

The expected quality on manufactured components in the automotive industry is high, often with an accuracy of tenths of a millimeter. The conventional methods used to ensure the manufactured components are very accurate, but they are both time consuming and insufficient and only a small part of the produced series are analyzed today. The measurement is performed manually in so-called measurement fixtures. Where each component is fixed and predetermined points of investigation are controlled with a dial indicator. These fixtures are very expensive to manufacture and they are only compatible with one specific kind of component. Nowadays, great volumes of material are scrapped from these procedures in the automotive industry. Hence, there is a great need to increase the amount of controlled components without affecting the production rate negatively. This project was carried out for the relatively new company Viospatia, which is a spin-off company based on research from Luleå University of Technology. They have developed a system that automatically measures each component directly at the production line with the use of photogrammetry technology. This makes it possible to discover erroneous components almost immediately and the manufacturer gets a more distinct view of their production and its capability. The aim of this thesis has been to investigate how a user interface should be developed to be as user-friendly as possible without limiting the system’s functions. The objective has been to design a proposal of a user interface adapted for the intended user, creating value and is easy to use. The progression has been structured around a human-centered approach expedient for interaction design, where the developing phase, containing analyze, design and validate, is performed through iterations with continuous feedback from users and the project’s employer. The context, where the intended solution is supposed to be used, was investigated through interviews and observations at the involved companies. In the project there were three factories involved, Gestamp Hardtech and Scania Ferruform in Luleå and Volvo Cars in Olofström. These factories are using similar production methods, sheet metal stamping, so their prerequisites and needs are similar for this type of quality control system. Creative methods have been applied throughout the project to generate as much ideas as possible while trying to satisfy all the important aspects. Initially analog prototypes were created but they were soon developed to digital interactive prototypes. A larger usability-test was conducted with seven participants by using a weblink to the digital prototype. With support from the feedback these tests generated some adjustments were made and the final user interface was designed, separated in two levels - Supervisor and Operator. Through extensive literature study and user-testing it became clear that the operator needs to get an unmistakable message from the user interface. There should not be any doubts whatsoever and the operator should react immediately. This message is delivered with the use of colors that have an established meaning. By identifying what needs the different actors have, the system’s functions can be separated and made accessible only for the intended user. The functions can then be more specifically developed for the intended user instead of modifying them trying to make a compromise that fits everybody. This separation of functions is not anything the user has to actively do but it is performed automatically by the user interface when the user is signing in. / Den förväntade kvalitén på tillverkade delar inom bilindustrin är väldigt hög, med toleranser på så lite som tiondels millimeter många gånger. De konventionella metoderna som används för att kontrollmäta de tillverkade delarna idag är mycket noggranna, men de är både tidskrävande och otillräckliga och endast en väldigt liten del av en producerad serie blir kontrollmätt idag. Mätningen utförs manuellt i så kallade mätfixturer. Där varje komponent fixeras och förutbestämda undersökningspunkter kontrolleras med en så kallad mätklocka. Dessa fixturer är även väldigt dyra att tillverka och de är bara kompatibla med en specifik komponent. I dagens läge så kasseras otroligt stora mängder material från dessa komponenter inom bilindustrin. Här finns det alltså ett stort behov för att öka mängden komponenter som kontrolleras utan att påverka tillverkningstakten. Det här projektet utfördes åt det relativt nystartade företaget Viospatia, vilket är ett spin-off företag från forskning utförd vid Luleå tekniska universitet. De har utvecklat ett system som med hjälp av fotogrammetri automatiskt mäter av varje komponent direkt i produktionslinan. Detta gör att eventuella fel upptäcks nästan omedelbart samtidigt som tillverkaren får en tydligare bild av sin produktion och dess kapacitet. Syftet med denna masteruppsats har varit att undersöka hur ett gränssnitt bör utvecklas för att det ska bli så användarvänligt som möjligt utan att begränsa systemets viktiga funktioner. Målet har varit att ta fram ett förslag på ett gränssnitt som är anpassat för den tänkta användaren, som skapar ett mervärde och är enkelt att använda. Processen har följt en användarcentrerad struktur fördelaktig för interaktionsdesign, där utvecklingsfasen bestående av analys, design och validering sker i flera iterationer med kontinuerlig återkoppling med användare och uppdragsgivare. Kontexten, där den tänkta lösningen ska användas, undersöktes initialt hos de involverade företagen. I projektet var tre fabriker involverade, Gestamp Hardtech och Scania Ferruform i Luleå och Volvo Cars i Olofström. Dessa fabriker använder mestadels liknande tillverkningsmetoder, metallpressning, vilket gör att de rimligtvis har en del gemensamma förutsättningar och behov. Under arbetets gång har diverse kreativa metoder använts för att generera så mycket idéer som möjligt utan att förbise viktiga aspekter. Till en början utvecklades prototyper analogt för att sedan utvecklas till digitala interaktiva prototyper. Ett större användbarhetstest genomfördes på distans med sju testpersoner via en länk till den digitala prototypen. Med hjälp av responsen från dessa tester gjordes en del ändringar och den slutliga designen på gränssnittet blev uppdelat i två nivåer, Supervisor och Operator. Genom teoristudie och användartester framgick det att operatören behöver få en omisskännlig uppmaning från gränssnittet. Det bör inte uppstå några som helst tveksamheter och operatören skall kunna agera direkt. Denna uppmaning sker genom en tydlig färgkodning som utnyttjar vedertagna uppfattningar om färgers innebörd. Genom att identifiera vilka behov de olika aktörerna har kan man på så sätt också hålla isär de olika funktionerna och göra de tillgängliga endast för den typen av aktör som behöver de. De kan på så sätt också utvecklas mer specifikt för den tänkta aktören istället för att modifieras för att passa alla. Denna separering av funktioner är inget som användaren behöver ställa in själv utan görs automatiskt då den loggar in med sitt användarkonto.