Experimental feedback interfaces for consumer activity tracking wearable devices

Commercial wearable activity trackers have sophisticated monitoring capabilities and digital user interfaces that report personal health metrics; however, these devices have not yet achieved their goal of dramatically improving the wellbeing and performance of users. This research identifies latent aspects of wearables that might improve wellbeing. A group of commercial wearable users are interviewed to determine unmet and latent needs. Qualitative interview data is leveraged to propose a case study of a flower robot as a figurative feedback interface that uses moving mechanisms to express the user's sleep quality and promote improved sleeping habits. The robotic flower user interface is divided into two components that are fabricated and tested separately: 1) a flower that blooms and 2) a stem that changes posture. The control system is fabricated, programmed, and tested to successfully retrieve the researcher's personal sleep data from a public API and actuate the stem and flower. The flower robot prototype is a proof of concept of a novel commercial activity tracking wearable interface. Further testing is required to determine if a robotic avatar can increase relevant task performance, change user behavior change, or improve health metrics.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Integrated Design and Management Program

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2020

Author dc:creator

• Lloyd, Christopher Noel.

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maria Yang.

• Integrated Design and Management Program.
• Engineering and Management Program.
• System Design and Management Program.

Statement dc:rights

• MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/132848

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/132848