A&K's "brainbox"
an autonomous robotic floor cleaners
Motion designer
Industrial designer
background:
A&K Robotics specializes in creating autonomous indoor robots that work collaboratively with humans.
challenge:
Design the holistic user experience and visual appearance for an autonomous floor cleaner, ensuring a harmony between the digital and physical experience.
approach:
By overseeing the project from both the industrial design and interaction design side, I was given a rare opportunity to address challenges holistically and solve them at their root. Working closely with a team of talented mechanical engineers and software developers, we created physical and digital solutions that worked together to make a complex system, intuitive and simple.
NDA notice:
In order to protect the intellectual property of A&K Robotics and the amazing things they're still working on, some content has been censored.
identifying the challenges
Working with the robotic system on a daily basis required a deep understanding of the system beyond just the GUI (graphical user interface). Operators needed to maintenance the floor cleaners, set up autonomous paths, and prepare environments for the robot to clean. Many iterations of user flows and journey maps were created in order to understand the potential user pain points and identify the most effective points of intervention.
designing the brainbox
The main industrial design challenge that was revealed from early sketching, was that the autonomous system (brainbox) of the floor cleaner can very easily look like it's a part of the floor cleaner which can be very problematic. If users interpret the brainbox and floor cleaner to be one system, they may attempt to troubleshoot issues with the floor cleaner on the GUI of the brainbox or vice versa.
The autonomous system and the floor cleaner needed to clearly appear as separate entities.
wireframing with motion
With the limitations of a smaller screen size, limited resolution, and its immovable placement, I decided to leverage animations and transitions to help communicate an additional layer of information and feedback. Early wireframes were made in conjunction with quick motion prototypes.
lots of testing
Due to the unique screen size for this UI and the unfamiliarity our users will have with interacting with robots, many usability tests were done throughout the design process.
final designs
