Brief: To design a product or service that tackles the challenges of the ageing population in 35-50 years.
In my undergrad (design engineering), I enjoyed a wide variety of collaborative projects that fused together design thinking with engineering skills to realise innovative solutions. Here, my group researched and designed an A.I. companion, "Amica", to support the mental wellbeing of the future ageing population.
In this group project, I was in charge of:
- Organising and interviewing users as part of the User Centred Design (UCD) process
- Technology validation regarding data and robotics
- Programming the works-like prototype and its demonstrations using the Raspberry Pi extension
- Exhibition design and video
- We as a group of three were all involved in the portfolio creation, ideation and system design
AMICA: A TIERED SERVICE
After rounds of iteration via user research, further validation in psychological aspects and voice assistive technology we formulated the framework of Amica:
My Takeaways From This Project
I was able to really free my perspective by envisioning this future AI companion but also ground myself with in depth research, psychology and technical understanding. I also relished the collaborative process, being able to take charge of user interviews in care homes, for example, to then translate into actionable specifications. Although this project was speculative and many dystopian issues could arise, I am proud of the research-backed design process we undertook to ultimately tackle the important issue of social wellbeing for the ageing population.
Exhibition Video
My next project I am going to show you is also quite future thinking- it is all about brain machine interfaces to manage our thoughts and memories.