Smart products have become increasingly commonplace in homes around the world but they can be difficult to use. People often complain that learning how to control them can be frustrating.
This is one of the reasons why Industrial Design Engineering student Frank van Boheemen
decided to focus on improving them for his MSc thesis. He originally planned to build a robot but he became interested in smart products after taking a class from Dr. M.C. Rozendaal and asking him for feedback on his project. Van Boheemen eventually decided to switch gears and began designing an Object With Intent (OWI) instead.
This term was coined by Dr. Rozendaal to describe smart products that might one day autonomously sense, respond to and cooperate with human activity. The OWI that Van Boheemen created for his project is called Diem. It’s a smart lighting controller designed to help users improve their sleeping habits.
“A very big idea behind Diem is that it introduces a day/night rhythm in the house by adjusting other smart products like lamps, air conditioning and other products that influence the indoor climate,” Van Boheemen said. “Theoretically, Diem would help the user by making everything happen automatically without bothering them for the right settings through applications on their smartphone or notifications that demand their attention.”
The goal of Van Boheemen and designers who create smart products is to keep making them, well, smarter. The theory is that the more intuitive they become, the more pleasurable they’ll be to have around. However, this isn’t an easy task.
“Tackling this problem is far beyond the scope of a graduation project,” Van Boheemen said. “Therefore, I chose a focus in my project which is ‘if you have an autonomous acting product with an opinion and means to enforce that opinion, how do you interact with such a product?’ And the most interesting part of that scenario is when the user and the product have a conflict of interest.”
Imagine someday getting into an argument with a lamp about your bedtime. Predicting potential disagreements like this one is a hurdle that future designers of OWIs will have to grapple with in the years to come.
Van Boheemen, F.A.D., Diem: An Animated House That Cares With Intent, Supervisors: M.C. Rozendaal and A.J.C. Van der Helm, Defence: May 2, 2016
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