The Internet of Things in Space: Building Compelling User Experiences

Space is a complex endeavor. In order to effectively control a spacecraft, astronauts have to undergo large amounts of training prior to a mission. And while running a mission, they work off of complex checklists and procedures for spacecraft operations. Today, the interfaces used to view and interact with these procedures still resemble paper checklists and documents. At NASA, we have been exploring using the Internet of Things (IoT) as a potential way to reduce errors, decrease crew training time, and move beyond the traditional procedure interfaces of the past.

The Internet of Things is a new field that could drastically change technology, user interactions, and product design as we know it. But in order to maximize this technology, we have to design compelling product experiences that use IoT’s full potential.

Presented by Steve Hillenius at UX Australia 2016

Transcript

1. IoT in Space: Building Compelling User Experiences Steve Hillenius, NASA Ames Research Center @hillenius
2. WORK
3. SPACE
4. THE STATE OF IOT
5. THE STATE OF IOT IoT IoT IoT IoT IoT IoT We’re stuck in a mashup additive design mentality
6. THE STATE OF IOT IoT IoT IoT IoT IoT IoT Object A + IoT + Mobile App = Smart Object A Object B + IoT + Mobile App = Smart Object B But these devices rarely result in great user experiences.
7. A slot machine approach to building interconnected products. THE STATE OF IOT Photo: Jeff Cubana
8. Why are most examples of IoT so uncompelling? Photo: Jeff Cubana
9. With many devices it’s not clear what benefit we’re giving the user? Photo: Jeff Cubana
10. THE MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR IOT
11. THE MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR IOT Photo: Håkan Dahlström
13. EXPECTATION SETTING AND RECOVERY
14. Let’s take a step back…
15. We as designers need to become more involved with the hardware and technical design for these new technologies in order to design next generation experiences.
16. You don’t need to be able to build it, but you need to understand what can be built.
17. You don’t need to be able to build it, but you need to understand what can be built. Photo: Adafruit
18. Where IoT really shines and what we can do with it.
19. Where IoT really shines and what we can do with it. Additive smart devices = Current IoT Indoor Location Detection Interconnected sensors and objects Objects making decisions independently Objects aware of the world “Smart dust”
20. These long term uses of IoT are bringing about major design and UX challenges
21. These long term uses of IoT are bringing about major design and UX challenges How do I effectively convey my intent to my 100s/1000s/10000s of devices? How do I usably control these devices? How do I ensure interoperability? How do I keep my devices secure?
22. How does IoT relate to NASA?
26. Our goal: To make a working prototype of an IoT system that could guide an Astronaut to perform a procedure, without training.
28. ESP8266’s, accelerometers, augmented reality, and haptics, oh my!
29. Initial Idea: Let’s track all of the procedure objects and be able to tell where they were placed. As the astronaut picks up the objects it will then guide them to the location and alert the user if it was installed correctly or incorrectly.
30. Initially we hit some snags with indoor positioning…
31. Early version of the IoT prototype
32. Integrating Augmented Reality into IoT
33. Integrating Augmented Reality into IoT Looking at it as visualization into the state of the IoT system. Key point, not necessarily a requirement to interact with the IoT objects.
34. Integrating Augmented Reality into IoT Paths and visualization of the system in 3d space. Being able to lean in and see where an object could be located from any angle in 3d space.
35. We put it all together and here are our results…
36. We put it all together and…
37. We put it all together and…
38. What’s next? Making the technology more robust. Investigating more indoor positioning techniques. Iterating on the potential interactions with the AR/IoT Prototype Opening up the potential for new devices and hardware prototypes.
39. Conclusion IoT is an incredibly powerful, but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible. Designers, start playing around with the hardware and see what these chipsets are capable of. Move beyond the traditional interface and into different control mechanisms and feedback. Be wary of the complexity you’re adding onto the device, make sure this is solving a user need.
40. Conclusion IoT has the potential to create a UX nightmare or utopia of the future. Let’s make sure we’re creating the utopia!
41. IoT in Space: Building Compelling User Experiences Steve Hillenius, NASA Ames Research Center @hillenius Thanks! Questions?