Independent Design Engineering Projects
Spring 2019
Master in Design Engineering
Independent Design Engineering Projects
Spring 2019
Master in Design Engineering
Introduction
Martin Bechthold and Fawwaz Habbal
5
Reimagining Product Delivery for a Sustainable Retail Future
Nicole Adler
6
Hyka
Jeronimo Beccar
7
NONDU: Augmenting Human Support
Humberto Ceballos
8
Jury Duty for the Internet: A Civics-Oriented Approach to Platform Governance
Jenny Fan
9
CATALLAXY: A Visual Support System for the Spoken Word
Saif Haobsh
10
Naya Studio
Vivek Hv and Saad Rajan
11
Smart Toilet Paper
Anesta Iwan
12
An Interaction Design Guide to the Solar System: Designing the Interface Experience for NASA’s Next Generation Spacesuit
Erin McLean
13
Sustainable Last Mile Delivery
Arjun Menon
14
Tandem: Cycle Connected
Terra Moran
15
Flux
Carla Saad
16
ArtNext
Julian Siegelmann
17
ACATTAG
Kenneth So
18
Attention, Hijacked
Kate Spies
19
Meet—Creating a More Transparent and Inclusive Job Market for Indian Youth
Vish Srivastava
20
Poligon
Janet Sung
21
Assembly: Innovating in Local Governance
Kiran Wattamwar
22
5
Introduction
The Master in Design Engineering (MDE) program is a two-year, collaborative degree program between the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and the John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Now in its third year, the program has fine-tuned its structure and pedagogy in a collaborative process between faculty from both schools, and with guidance from the External Advisory Board. Throughout, student feedback has remained of great importance, and we thank all members of the MDE community for their continual enthusiasm and support. The program’s goal was and remains providing students with the necessary technical and critical skills to examine, understand, and develop solutions to some of the complex, vexing problems of our time. This booklet presents the Independent Design Engineering Projects (IDEP) from the second MDE cohort, and captures the diversity of their backgrounds, including engineering, business, architecture, and design. Much like a thesis, IDEP requires a synthesis and application of the general approach and methods for examining, understanding, and developing solutions that students learned in the first year of the program. For IDEP, each student has selected a real-world, societal challenge of his/her choice to address across two semesters. Working with stakeholders, students leverage a combination of design and engineering methods with the goal of presenting a prototype at the end of the two-semester period. Each student is usually guided by two faculty advisors, one from each of the participating schools. Regular meetings with the IDEP faculty and the entire cohort facilitate the exchange of ideas and provide a platform for systematic feedback. As a program, we are proud to present the 2019 projects. The work covers a diverse set of challenges in the domains of communication, health, sustainability, and others. We hope the work will continue beyond the confines of Harvard, bringing the MDE mission of “Innovating for Society� into reality!
Martin Bechthold Program Director
Fawwaz Habbal Program Director
Reimagining Product Delivery for a Sustainable Retail Future
Nicole Adler, advised by Jock Herron, Peter Stark, and Arianna Mazeo
6
Delivering commodity products is costly and inconvenient for both sellers and consumers and wasteful to the environment. The explosive growth of e-commerce freight transport, demand for fast delivery, and associated costs are causing congestion (40% of road usage) and pollution (40% of CO2 emissions) in urban areas and thinning retailer profit margins, especially from commodity items. Residential, industry, and other sectors are reducing emissions, but emissions from the logistics sector are only on the rise. While most efforts to address these issues have been focused on innovative vehicles, transport routing optimization, or parcel lockers, this project explores the potential for large residential buildings to pool and synchronize their commodity goods delivery. It also proposes new product formats that are specifically suited for shipment, reducing the financial and ecological costs of their delivery and acquisition. The project maintains a human-centered approach, aiming to enhance convenience and reduce frustrating packaging waste for urban residents.
Hyka
Jeronimo Beccar, advised by Jock Herron, Arianna Mazzeo, and Peter Stark
7
138M adults in the US are affected by chronic stress. Chronic stress impacts people’s physical and emotional health, leading to anxiety disorders, addiction, and suicide. While exposure to stress is constant, current remedies, such as exercise and talk therapy, are not consistent options for people due to the time and financial commitment they require. This unmanaged stress is causing a surge in anxiety disorders, which are now increasing faster than all other mental health disorders combined. We need tools to help us when we are in a place where we can no longer function effectively. The Hyka Smartband uses a technology called transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). Over two decades of clinical trials have validated the safety and benefits of tDCS. tDCS works by delivering a “microcurrent” non-invasively to stimulate the ventral striatum, increasing dopamine release. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that regulates motivation, drive, and resilience, thus reversing the effects of chronic stress at the neurobiological level. However, current devices that deliver tDCS have been designed with a clinical orientation. In user interviews I have conducted, multiple users have reported that these devices make them feel “like a science experiment.” That is why Hyka is redesigning the neurostimulation experience using human-centered design. The objective of this project is to turn tDCS technology into a product that can be used in everyday life. This hands-free neurostimulation device, worn like a headband, can be easily used while working, driving, or caring for children.
NONDU: Augmenting Human Support
Berto Ceballos, advised by Julia Lee and Allen Sayegh
8
We have all failed, more than once, and it hurts. It is difficult to accept our mistakes, to talk about it, to stop thinking about it, to be objective, to look back, reflect, learn, and move on. That would be an ideal path of coping and learning, but we are biased—biased toward looking away, instead of dealing with the painful experience. Taxing situations trigger various emotions and mental states, some of them affecting our current society significantly, such as stress, anxiety, and depression. Coping effectively with failure has three crucial dimensions: past experiences, selflove, and social support. In a world that is more connected than ever, but also the loneliest, NONDU seeks to support people in their journey of coping with stress in a comforting, playful, and social way.
Jury Duty for the Internet: A Civics-Oriented Approach to Platform Governance
Jenny Fan, advised by Krzysztof Gajos, Robert Pietrusko, and Amy X. Zhang
9
Increasing concerns about the harms of misinformation, political dog-whistling, and hate speech spread on social media platforms cast new light upon the challenges of content moderation. Though rarely mentioned as a primary feature of any platform, the decisions around what content is actively featured or removed has caused the public to begin to question the outsized role that platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Google have in shaping public narrative. With the spread of toxic memes and hateful content contributing to manipulated elections, hate crimes, and mob violence, the pollution of the public infosphere has become a tragedy of the “digital commons.” This project proposes “Jury Duty for the Internet’’: a civics-oriented, distributed decision-making approach for adjudicating platform governance questions at scale. Digital juries draw inspiration from the “IRL” constitutional jury system as a democratic, digital governance system. Building on existing theoretical models of jury decision-making, I present a model outlining the design space for how deliberating groups balance the tensions of protecting freedom of expression and preserving user safety. The model explores two primary questions: 1) What design qualities would make content moderation systems more democratically legitimate? 2) Is this system feasible for moderating toxic speech at scale? By engaging with users as stakeholders instead of passive eyeballs, inviting them to become citizen moderators rather than data-labeling, micro-taskers or custodians, we can collectively distribute the burden and benefits of supporting speech in a digitally native society. For more, see digitaljuries.com.
CATALLAXY: A Visual Support System for the Spoken Word
Saif Haobsh, advised by Hanspeter Pfister and Panagiotis Michalatos
10
As society embraces the explosion of information and urgency of collaboration, hyper-specialization is making it difficult for researchers to leverage deep knowledge. How may we foster a greater sense of collaboration to address increasingly complex challenges? The term “C atallaxy” provides an alternative understanding of the phenomenon of exchange. More specifically, Catallaxy describes a spontaneous system of individual actions with diverse pursuits leading to emergent and unexpected consequences. The proposed system is a dynamic, real-time, visual meta-language bridging the gap between diverse domains. Users effectively communicate complex concepts, emotions, and theories. As participants’ speech is processed into text, the system recognizing words that present possible confusion between the participants. Identifying words of contention within the complexity, the system relays an array of visuals interpolating the meaning between participants’ semantic polarity. By consensus, participants interactively select visuals that ground meaning. Throughout the course of the conversation, a layered decision-making model confines the problem space, achieving an aligned, mutual understanding between users. The larger goal of the system is to carve an intellectual path for discourse, ease cognitive friction, and enable mutually-built expressive complexity, in a shorter time frame.
Naya Studio
Vivek Hv and Saad Rajan, advised by Jock Herron, Pan Michalatos, Krzysztof Gajos, Arianna Mazzeo, and Stephen Burkes
11
More than 80% of us have had an idea of something we would like to create. However, only 25% of those with an idea realize that vision. Our research has shown that creators (including people with ideas, designers and makers) face a challenging journey from idea to invention, primarily due to the following reasons: (1) Matching. Connecting with the right designer, maker or client is a fragmented pocess; (2) Communication. The communication and interpretation of design needs is not structured; (3) Collaboration. The feedback loop of design concepts is broken; (4) Execution. The mutual understanding of time, quality and price is opaque. How might we redesign the journey of co:creation to enable greater trust, creativity, and inspiration when creating the next generation of enduring and delightful products. Imagine a world where ideas come from the most unexpected places. Naya brings together clients, designers, and makers on a collaborative platform that allows them to engage in a reimagined journey that takes them from idea to invention (for bespoke furniture). Naya does this using 5 key design values: Transparency. Mutual awareness of processes and pricing. Flexibility. Levels of complexity in what clients, makers, and designers can create Value. Greater value for all three stakeholders by leveraging algorithms and data Connection. Meaning associated with objects created and the co:creators Engaging. Playful and interactive interfaces that empower creators. With these five factors, Naya is the only collaborative digital platform that mobilizes ideas to turn into inventions, for anyone with an imagination, anywhere in the world, who wants to create something, in an era of suppressed individuality.
Smart Toilet Paper
Anesta Iwan, advised by Martin Bechthold, Rachel Carmody, Curtis Huttenhower, Peter Stark, and Mary Tolikas
12
Although we frequent the bathroom to get rid of our bodily wastes, there’s a lot that we can gather about our health from our feces. There are over 100 trillion microbes that live within the human body (most of which reside in the intestinal track). Contrary to common belief, most of these bacteria contribute toward good health in terms of helping us digest foods, develop our immune system, and help the overall body systems function. In a more specific case, current research shows how certain microbial communities within the body can inhibit the drug Digoxin and render the initial prescribed dosage to be inaccurate. Digoxin is typically used to treat patients with heart failures, however, because of its narrow therapeutic window, it is critical that it is administered at the right dosage. Although the procedures and instruments used to analyze and measure the microbiome exist, they are complex and expensive and therefore inaccessible for most individuals who need to frequently monitor their microbiome to keep their dosage (of Digoxin) in check. This thesis seeks to find a simple and affordable solution that can effectively track the human microbiome for specific microbial communities—using paper. In parallel with the growing research in the field of microbiome, this research aims to expand its application to detect localized enteric pathogens, and eventually, more distant asymptomatic diseases from our fecal samples.
An Interaction Design Guide to the Solar System: Designing the Interface Experience for NASA’s Next Generation Spacesuit
Erin McLean, advised by Arianna Mazzeo and Allen Sayegh
13
Within the next ten years, there will be constant human habitation on the Moon by NASA astronauts, in conjunction with the private sector and international partners. As part of NASA’s Moon to Mars campaign, the lunar surface will be the proving ground for the technologies humanity will use to live & work in deep space. Constant habitation on the Moon and Mars will change the way extravehicular activities (EVA or spacewalks) are conducted. Future astronauts will have to routinely leave their vehicle or habitat to conduct work without the live support of an Earth-based team, thus requiring greater autonomy with less preparation for all tasks. The next generation extravehicular mobility unit (EMU) spacesuit that will be used by astronauts has an integrated, mixed-reality display in the helmet visor. This platform technology can be leveraged to display timely & relevant content, communications, and controls to improve astronaut productivity and safety. This thesis explores one of the primary contexts astronauts will use a mixed-reality helmet display: Lunar & Martian field geology. Through a human-centered, design & engineering lens, I designed a software platform for the visor that would assist future astronauts with field-work. In conjunction, an interaction design theory & set of guidelines was created that outlines input modalities, human/machine functional allocation, and interface paradigms for the different contexts within our solar system.
Sustainable Last Mile Delivery
Arjun Menon, advised by Andres Sevtsuk and Krzysztof Gajos
14
Urban freight traffic is hugely important and relatively understudied. Last mile delivery destinations are quite diverse within a city, and in most cases, as delivering vehicles cannot be fully loaded, last-mile logistics can take up to 28% of the total cost of shipment and delivery. While costs vary with population density, product type, package size, and weight, last mile delivery is also considered to be the highest polluting segment of the supply chain. This project develops a system for micro-distribution nodes as an effective strategy for mitigating some of these challenges in the last mile. With such a network of nodes, the time-consuming process inherent in a traditional system where deliveries are made one-by-one to individual consumers is eliminated. We developed a spatial model that accurately predicts the efficacy and possibility of developing a distribution of micro-nodes in Cambridge. The design and location of this network was based on insight into the dynamic behavioral interaction between stakeholders in city logistics, such as freight carriers, retailers, the municipality, and individual customers. To understand the consumer side of the equation, a series of detailed HCI experiments were conducted. Based on these experiments, mechanisms for increasing sustainability through consumer choice were designed, building on prior research into persuasive technologies designed to nudge users toward sustainable transportation choices.
Tandem: Cycle Connected
Terra Moran, advised by Allen Sayegh and Arianna Mazzeo
15
Tandem is designed to create a safer and more user-friendly experience for the connected city cyclist. Advances in consumer technologies and increased accessibility to cycling in the city have led to a growing number of cyclists being on their devices during a ride. There can be safety implications when biking with earphones, speakers, and cellphones, but there are also usability considerations, like the awkwardness of using a cellphone while navigating busy city streets. The goal of Tandem is to improve both the experience and safety for the connected city cyclist, in a way that is simple, intuitive, and desirable for this user. Existing solutions, regulations, and research studies were explored, and stakeholders (cyclists, bike advocacy leaders, regulators, neuropsychologists, designers, etc.) were consulted. To understand the key pain-points of using technology on city bike rides, user surveys and interviews were conducted, which led to three potential solution spaces. The solution spaces were tested over several days with different cyclists, and the most viable proposal was prototyped, iterated, and retested into the final Tandem product. Tandem is a connected hardware/software product that enables customized control of technology from a cyclist’s handlebars. It includes a three-button device that attaches to bike handlebars and executes different actions, such as sending a text message, changing the song, or providing a direction. The actions are customizable by the user, enabling control of what and when information flows. In addition to this core product, an overview of other key findings and potential future explorations are summarized.
Flux
Carla Saad, advised by Allen Sayegh and Robert D. Howe
16
Air travel is a dreamy experience for many people around the world. However, an in-depth look reveals that the average wait time exceeds the average flight time. According to the International Air Transport Association (IATA), 7.8 billion passengers are expected to travel by 2036, which is approximately double the number of passengers traveling today. Efforts to improve airport efficiency have focused on reimagining the passenger journey to provide a pleasant experience, including a smoother flow throughout the different stages that a traveler passes through in airports. None of these initiatives include the passenger’s experience at security as a component of the overall flow. Flux takes a human-centered approach to the traveler’s experience at security, where many technologies are used to ensure safety and well-being in a more seamless way. Flux is a communication system that integrates security screening throughout the passenger’s journey, from the point they access the airport until they reach the gate. The system helps passengers stay in contact with the various stakeholders from airport operations, airlines, and security in order to provide an enhanced and optimized experience.
ArtNext
Julian Siegelmann, advised by Andrew Witt and Peter Stark
17
What if we could expand museum collections and galleries past the physical space of their institutions? ArtNext is an art subscription model to rent art from established local galleries and museums on a 3, 6, or 12 month basis at 2.5-5% of the art‘s market value. ArtNext aims to disrupt the gallery and museum space by offering an alternative, scalable revenue model for galleries and museums and shifting the focus away from collecting, selling, and storing. Galleries and museums are only able to show an average of ~2% of their art collections at any time. Both for-profit and non-profit art institutions are interested in providing access to their collections and introducing art to new customer groups, but are ham-stringed by physical space and human resource limitations. ArtNext categorizes gallery and museum inventory to identify works that can be distributed, helps curators dissect large collections data, and mobilizes objects within gallery storage. ArtNext works because we are aggregating and matching preferences among local galleries and museums, reducing delivery and installation costs to a minimum, and tapping into a customer-base that is far younger than the existing gallery and museum demographic. ArtNext is art ownership for the 21st century.
ACATTAG
Kenneth So, advised by Jock Herron, Arianna Mazzeo, and Peter Stark
18
Whole genome and exome sequencing have well-established clinical utility for highly heritable conditions, undiagnosed diseases, and cancer treatment. As the cost of sequencing continues to decline, genetic testing holds the promise to enable personalized and preventive approaches to medicine through widespread genetic screening. Instead of waiting for individuals to be sick, health professionals can stratify people based on genetic predispositions to disease and proactively manage care in a holistic way. While genetics is in its infancy and the benefits and costs to society are unclear, many healthcare systems are moving toward broader adoption of clinical sequencing. The trend raises questions around whether health professionals and patients are prepared to engage with information that is complex and may or may not have clear next steps. I propose a point-of-care interface to facilitate meaningful dialogue and shared decision-making between patient and provider via the future clinic. Given the paucity of genetic experts in the United States, primary care providers will play an increasing role in using genetics to create a complete picture of one’s health. In addition, patients will make decisions that affect not only themselves but also their families. With engagement from stakeholders at Harvard Medical School, Broad Institute, and Partners HealthCare, this project serves as an experience blueprint for healthcare delivery in the age of genomic medicine.
Attention, Hijacked
Kate Spies, advised by Arianna Mazzeo and Stephen Burks
19
Tech may be useful, but it is manipulative. Smart phones, digital accessories, applications, and platforms are all designed to persuade individual users to spend more time with the product. Users stare at screens all day, provide location and demographic data, and view ads, and in return, receive free email and mapping services. The endless scrolling, impulse pick-ups, and anxiety of a device misplaced highlight the intimate relationship we have with technology. We tout the benefits, but what do we really forfeit? The short answer, attention. University of Cambridge research on psychological targeting and digital persuasion highlights how addictive design influences behavior by either “helping individuals make better decisions” or “persuading them to take action against their own best interests.” Technology companies tailor their interaction design to captivate users and keep individuals connected, a modern-day Skinner Box for the user and a virtuous sales cycle for the tech behemoths. What we implicitly surrender in attention engineering is autonomy and personal agency, and the structure is made to feel indisputable. Awareness is no longer enough in the battle for attention. By creating a simple digital interface with a spectrum of notifications and haptic reinforcements, including custom hardware for pain, users select a program of operant conditioning. Based on a century of research, the application + hardware combo leverages an entire suite of mechanisms, including visual reminders, vibrations, auditory cues, and unpleasant thermoreceptor stimulation. Utilizing the Thermal Grill Illusion (TGI) in a wearable format, users access the entire continuum of conditioning. By breaking the addictive technology cycle and reducing the stream of distractions, space is created to cultivate a life of impact, with fulfilling activities, community, day dreaming, and more.
Meet—Creating a More Transparent and Inclusive Job Market for Indian Youth
Vish Srivastava, advised by Jock Herron, Krzysztof Gajos, and Emmerich Davies
20
There is a profound misalignment between the education and employment systems in India and the needs of its youth. Over 30% of youth aged 15-29 in India are not in employment, education, or training, with 47% of all graduates not considered employable in the knowledge economy. The pathway from education to employment for Indian youth is, simply put, failing them. While the Indian government operates a slew of programs to address these challenges, there is a largely untapped potential in market-based solutions. Research has shown that increasing information flow in a job market can greatly increase employment quality and earnings for job-seekers. Meet is an employment platform that connects verified employers and job-seekers, providing both with trusted information such as reviews, job openings, and profiles to support better matching. The product begins to address the identified problem with a Glassdoor-like, crowdsourced platform for job-seekers to share and access trusted and relevant information. Youth can submit several types of information, includes ratings and reviews of the workplace, salaries, and job descriptions, which are first verified and then made available for job-seekers and employers to see. I have built this product in Lucknow, UP, India, in partnership with the non-profit Medha, in order to launch a pilot, recruit initial users, test the solution hypothesis, and create plans to scale the platform to have larger-scale impact.
Poligon
Janet Sung, advised by Elena Glassman, Belinda Tato, and Amy X. Zhang
21
Ideally, information helps people make better decisions. However, the reality is that people are often overwhelmed by information. Although we have been learning and practicing critical thinking, the real-world scenario is much more complicated. How can we enhance people’s reflective ability on what they read? Poligon aims to provide an efficient way to consume and reflect over large amounts of information. Using political news as an example, Poligon retrieves global structure, identifies variations, and stimulates reflective thinking.
Assembly: Innovating in Local Governance
Kiran Wattamwar, advised by Urs Gasser, Jesse Keenan, and James Waldo
22
Democratic government, at its core, is meant to be open-sourced. It inherently seeks to represent, to listen, to iterate, and to include. But with the complexities that abound at the interface of citizen a nd government, our institutions are not designed to support the inclusive models they intended to create. Layered with thickets of bureaucracy, technical jargon, and council meetings that haven’t changed in centuries, we lack meaningful models to participate at different stages of decision-making at the local level. Local governance is often the portal for many citizens to interact with their government directly. But who actually participates at the local level? It is often those with opinions at the fringes of issues, or subject-domain experts with deep knowledge of issues. Current participation models leave behind demographic groups that are uncomfortable speaking (including non-native English speakers), people with multiple jobs (though they can submit email testimonies), and those who do not know where to begin. Academic research also demonstrates significant differences in representation in local governance participation across demographics. Current government resources do not mirror the way we consume information today, and add friction to participation, rather than incentives. My design provocation explores how we can better include a representative slice of our community, and make participation in local governance engaging, exciting, and inclusive. Assembly reimagines the core of local governance—the city council meeting—with remote participation, richer personalized engagement ,and a user-centered approach.
Dean, Harvard University Graduate School of Design Mohsen Mostafavi Dean, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Frank Doyle Program Directors Martin Bechthold (GSD) and Fawwaz Habbal (SEAS) Program Administrator Janessa Mulepati Production Manager Meg Sandberg
Š 2019 by the President and Fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without prior written permission from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Harvard University Graduate School of Design Gund Hall 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 USA www.gsd.harvard.edu
GSD / SEAS