The User experience of the internet of things

August 28. 2013

Frontendconf, Zurich

Memi Beltrame

Hi my Name is Memi and welcome to the user experience of the internet of things

meI'm a user experience designer.I just started my own content strategy firm

less a mess.

The User experience of the internet of things

Today I am going to talk to you about the user experience of the internet of things.

THe Mobile revolution

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamescridland/612782641/

The mobile revolution took us by storm and is still in full effect. I am going to tell something about the next chapter of this revolution. It is all about making everyday interactions easier and more enjoyable. First I would like to start by pointing out three things that I find make our lives hard:

Cumbersome interactions

Number 1: Our daily lives are filled with cumbersome interactions with all sorts of objects and appliances like for example ticketting machines...

... or illogical arrays of light light switches.

Unneccessary

Number 2: Our Lives are full of tasks we would prefer not to do and if we have the choice will be more than happy to skip them.This is your WiFi Nightmare of the kind where the provider wants to verify your existence via SMS

The WiFi Nightmare

Which of course does not really work without having a signal.

Context is the new king

Number 3: The things we interact with are isolated objects that are not aware of who is using them or what else is around them.So the main pain points of interactions are bad interfaces, silly workflows and the lack of context.

Rejoice!

http://instagram.com/p/YsyYEZIv4H/

But don‘t worry: This is about to change. We are about to enter a new era. A time where objects are interconnected, where things can have an identity, where manual tasks are being replaced by digital processes because things have an identity and because objects are interconnected.

The Internet of Things

This is the era of the internet of things: Objects that have sensors and that can communicate via the internet with other objects. Objects that can be reached by smartphones and computers of the internet.Like this plant sensor that tells me if the plant needs watering through my mobile phone.

THe perfect Storm

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yathin/8605988506

The internet of things is like a perfect storm where a few things come together and magically creating something bigger and unexpected.The main ingredients are:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yathin/8605988506

Mature Sensor Technology

Mobile everywhere

Minification

Minification. Devices are getting smaller and smaller, consuming less energy and becoming affordable.

the maturity of sensor-technology allowing to measure anything from light, noise, proximity or even the chemical composition of air. sensor technology gives the devices the ability to sense each other.

the third element is the rise of the mobile web making computing available everywhere.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85974714@N07/8571187232

340282366920938463463374607431768211456

One more lucky coincidence is the switch from the IP system we used so far to IPv6 allowing for massively more Ip idresses.

IPv6 gives us an incredible 340 undecillions of addresses.

This means 60 billion billion addresses per cm2 which is about an address for every grain of sand on the planet.

A Few Elements

Near Field Communication

One important element in all this is a technology called near field communication or in short NFC.What you see here are the different logos used in connection with NFC.

NFC will most probably make a huge impact in the very near future. Zürich Transport have started to put Stickers on their ticketing machines to signal the availability of NFC. Since it will be really important I'd like to give you the basic infos on how NFC works.

Pairing

Without going into technical details, here's how NFC works.NFC allows smartphones and similar devices to communicate with each other just by holding them close to each other, usually no more than a few centimeters. This is called Pairing

Tags

Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called a "tag"

The devices can read Information from another device or tag.They can also write information on tags.

These Tags can hold all sorts of information like Links to websites, Contact information, WiFi Credentials.Here for example we have a book that is part of a company library. The tag on the book contains a link that leads to the library page of this specific book. This way user can borrow the book in a very simple process.

That's it. That's all the technical information you need to know.

Sensors

Much of the power of iot lies in connecting sensors to the internet. Sensors Convert physical properties to electrical signals. These sensors measure light, sound, motion, pollution, radiation and quantify their measurements.

Actuators

Actuators take the opposite direction and convert electrical signals to physical properties like light, sound and motion.

A lot of the examples I will talk about leverage either sesonrs or actuators to accomplish things.

The return of the undead

http://www.flickr.com/photos/felix42/453311029

Strangely enough the Internet of things with all its sensors and high tech will also boost an old friend we have made fun of and ridiculed a lot of times. QR-Codes.

QR-Codes

QR codes are a cheap way to attach a digital identity to a physical product and can carry a lot more diverse information than just links the guys from marketing sent over. There are more sophisticated ways to do what QR codes do but they all require some form of hardware like NFC tags or Small processors and sensors. QR Codes can be printed on products for no extra cost and this is an advantage not to be underestimated.

a Ticket to ride

QR codes work if the user does not have to handle the code reader. Swiss railways for example have been using QR codes for a few years now, reaching a remarkable level of acceptance but it is the ticket inspector that holds the code reader. The customer just has to show his ticket.

The Story so far

Lets have a look at the internet of things so far.

insulin pump ImplantsBlood-glucose monitors

wifi-pacemakers

Medicine

A huge chunk of existing Iot applications have to do with helping the body to work.these are Medical applications like cardiac implants, wireless pacemakers, blood glucose monitors, implantable insulin pumps.

hazard detection distributed monitoring

INTERNET OF NATURE

http://www.flickr.com/photos/storm-crypt/2566996725

The internet of nature is about monitoring the environment with Wireless sensor networks. This can be used to detect fires at an early stage and limit damage. These networks are connected to the internet and are long lasting, low energy & low maintenance networks.

ART

http://tinyurl.com/3wftag5

Artists are totally nuts about the internet of things. There's a ton of cool Projects.

Addictive Toaster 2011

This toaster registers how frequently you are toasting. if you are neglecting it, it will try to capture your attention by wiggling the handle and tweeting about your neglection.

it is connected to its fellow toasters over the internet and gets stressed if others are treated better. If it feels you are not worthy of its services it will sell itself over the internet.

Descriptive camera 2012

This gadget can take pictures which are sent to a mechanical turc service. This service will return a description of the picture.

Access & IDNFC

We have been using NFC all along with smart ticketing systems like London's Oyster Card, with Library Cards, Or whenever you were given a card as your Hotel Room Key.

So why is this a revolution if we have been using it all along?

With the oyster card and your Library card you were given the chip. If you're using your NFC enabled Phone to interact with NFC this is completely different Story:With your phone you are holding the reader. And this reader has a display to show an interface, and because it is your personal device it is tied to you.

So NFC in the future will be about the seamless connection of information and personal devices.

Showcases

Many of these usages have one thing in common: They are symptomatic for how the internet of things is tailored to very specific needs. not targeting the MassesI believe that the main fields where NFC has a lot of potential are travel and Tourism, Health care, and Home automation. Here a few examples.

Payment

I will not talk about payment methods.Contactless payments are fantastic but I think the internet of things has more interesting applications that just money exchange.

On the move

http://www.flickr.com/photos/robsogood/2673797904

There are a few very interesting scenarios that have to deal with being on the move.

Wifi

The simplest of them is Access to wifi.Wifi in hotels and restaurants is really annoying. we all have been there, it's a nightmare. NFC makes this simple:

The WiFi Credentials can be written on a tag so users just have to swipe their phones over it and they're done. No error prone typing. Fast and easy.

Tokio

http://www.flickr.com/photos/derguy/8042802029

Next: Just imagine you are in a hotel room in Tokio, it is Summer. It's hot and humid.Luckily your room has Air conditioning.

Unfortunately it comes with a remote control that looks like this.

Just imagine you could hold your phone against an NFC chip and it would display the interface of the air conditioning in your language. This is possible. The air conditioning could have a small webserver running and the tag would just launch your browser linking to the server of the air conditioning.

http://maxgif.com/341 

Car Sharing

Next scenario: Imagine you share a car with your spouse. Now whenever you use the car after your spouse, you have to adjust the seat, the mirrors, the speakers, the radio station.If you have an NFC enabled car all you need is to open your car with your phone and the adjustments are made automatically, because the car knows your phone.

★ CID Customer Identification Device (Lancia)★ Emotion Control Unit ECU (Aston Martin),★ Komfortschlüssel (Audi), ★ Keyless Access oder KESSY (Volkswagen, Skoda, Subaru, Hella)★ Keycard Handsfree Entry and Drive/ SES Smart Entry System (Renault)★ KeyFree Power (Ford)★ Keyless Drive / Keyless Vehicle (Volvo)★ Keyless Start (Suzuki)★ Komfortzugang bzw. Comfort Access (BMW)★ LogIn (Mazda)★ PASE Passive Start Entry System (Siemens VDO)★ PEPS Passive Entry Passive Start / Open & Start (Opel, ContiTemic & Hella)★ PEG Passive Entry Go (DaimlerChrysler, Hella)★ PE/PG Passive Entry Passive Go und CE/CG Comfort Entry Comfort Go (Bosch)★ Smart Entry & Start (Toyota)★ Smart Key (KIA)★ Intelligent Key (Nissan)

List of Keyless Go Projects

This is an impressive list of projects by car manufacturers that are dealing with Keyless Key Systems.Looks like this is something that will hit the market very soon.

REntals

A similar use case is rentals: this is a project from Barcelona called Eco-oltra and it is a system that let's the users rent a electric scooters using their mobile phones and then, using NFC they can also use the mobile phone to start the scooter because it detects that this mobile has been used to make the reservation.This has the very great advantage that if your motorbike does not work you can very easily request the key for another bike without have to go anywhere.

Home Automation

I will not talk to you about the intelligent fridge that orders beer for you and fills its freezer with pizza. Sorry lads.Instead I want to talk to you about energy.

The end of standby

Our households needlessly spend a lot of energy for keeping devices on standby.Imagine that your electricity circuit at home knows which devices it is supplying and also knows which ones are essential like your fridge. Smart circuits let you powering down your home when you don't need power running, because you are going to sleep or are leaving the house. And the best thing is: they let you do this over your mobile phone

Dumb Fridge

Your smart circuit surveils the dumb fridge by observing the heartbeat of its cooling cooling unit that switches on every few minutes. So if your Fridge stops cooling it is a matter of minutes until the smart circuit realizes that and can alert you.

Heartbeat Monitoring

Remote control

Being able to remotely control apartments and houses will be one major selling points for home automation. Imagine you are in charge of a bunch of holiday homes in the swiss alps. a lot of these homes are heated trough all of winter despite being used only for a fraction of the time. Home automation would actually help you make sure that the houses are warm and cozy only when the homes are being used. Imgine you can monitor and control the basic elements like heating, shades, or humidity from the comfort of your desk, without having to go to each apartment to switch on heatigs.

Healthcare

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daveynin/7417095278

Change of Scene: Let's have a look at healthcare:Whenever I am in a Hospital I am always surprised that there are almost no digital processes. A lot is done by handwriting on paper. Very error prone and it does not scale. All this Equipment that you see generates an immense amount of data, related to one patient. Data that is not tied to the person digitally.

This is a Thermometer. Imagine that every Patient would have a NFC Tag attached to the bed. This Tag would just hold the ID of the patient. This ID would correspond to a profile of the patient in the cloud. The thermometer would be able to read the tag and transmit the measured temperature to the patient profile. This can be extended to all sorts of measurements like blood pressure, weight or also medication like infusions and syringes.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/proimos/6869336880

When the doctor comes to visit you all she needs is a device that can read the chip and gets all the data from the profile that she needs to assess your case.

This is all very exiting, but there are a few things to consider.

CHallenges

So why is all this important for us designers?

Hardware: Check

Computing History shows that establishing a new technology starts with the solving of the problems posed by hardware. Once these bottlenecks are overcome the focus can shift to software and interfaces.

The internet of things is entering this stage.

Design in Flux

Designing for the internet of is an interdisciplinary field consisting of service design, interaction design and industrial design.We will design a holistic experience that goes beyond the screen, we will have to take into account where the system will be used, where devices and sensors will be placed and how users are going to interact with them.

devices

We will have to know a lot more about the context of users in the wider sense. If we want to design a holistic experience for a hospital we will have to think about a lot more that just how user needs are translated to the screens. We will have to observe a lot to see the potential for improvements.

Controls

We will have to a lot to do with translating hardware controls into easy to use interfaces.

Workflows

We will have to think very hard about workflows and about the connections between the digital and physical world to make sure that the experience is really seamless.

R/Evolution !

A lot of this is happening right now. This is a revolution. It may not happen today or until next tuesday but it will happen and it inspires and motivates a lot of people to make the future a part of the present.

The future of the internet of things is now. it just needs a broader audience.

ThankS!@bratwurstkomet

Thank you!