Master's Projects

Series

Master's Projects

Permanent Link

https://hdl.handle.net/1853/71003

Series Type

Publication Series

Full item page

Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 13

How to improve collaboration with Lego-style bricks

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05) Vieira, Pedro Henrique de Medeiros

Collaboration can be defined as the act of working together with one or more individuals or groups towards a common goal, with the aim of achieving a shared result. At its core, collaboration is about leveraging the strengths and abilities of all team members to achieve a better outcome than any individual could on their own. Bloc Co-op is a game designed to incorporate Lego bricks and a companion app to improve collaboration within teams in a seamless and playful way. Teams will get together and compete in weekly building challenges, upload pictures of their structures and rate others builds, while exercising their communication, trust, creativity, and accountability muscles.
Exploring the Gig Economy to Create a Connected College Ecosystem through Service Exchange

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05) Holmes, Cam

This project direction is directed towards improving student’s transition into their careers by leveraging the gig economy to create connection and cash flow with an intent of finding a scalable product market fit on the Georgia Institute of Technology's campus. This project utilizes a common startup practice by condensing the design process to more of an iterative approach to problem solving. The design cycles start broad and become more defined as the project progresses based on feedback received from students and eventually local businesses around campus. The three main themes around each design cycle are as follows: 1. A Student to Student Gig Exchange, 2. A Text-based Freelance Marketplace for Students, 3. A Scalable Platform and Ecosystem designed to help build small business, Student Experience and Expand the University Community. This iterative process of “failing fast” has enabled Gigsurf to strengthen it’s product market fit through the entirety of the project. Gigsurf is a marketplace for top talent students to provide contract work to start-ups while expanding the start-up presence on campus and within local communities.
Turning the Wheel: Addressing Barriers to Micromobility Transportation for Underrepresented Groups

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05)

The use of micromobility devices is on the rise, especially in denser urban environments, as people choose cycles, scooters, skateboards, and their electric counterparts to travel between destinations. While numbers vary by mode, ridership tends to be highest among white males and lower among women, black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), and persons with disabilities. Inadequate infrastructure and parking, safety concerns, and societal expectations are among the many reasons cited for these disparities. Initial research identifies end-of-trip facilities as an opportunity area where improvements can be made to support underserved and underrepresented populations. The aim of this project was to collect feedback from these groups which informed the design of a multifunctional storage device. Current users of micromobility devices were surveyed to ascertain what amenities have had the greatest positive impacts on their transportation experiences, as well as those that are still largely missing but desirable. Concepts were developed, visualized, and presented to target audiences for further feedback used to improve the design and validate the solution.
Usability Testing in Virtual Reality and Traditional Physical Environments: A Comparative Study

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05)

Usability testing is a vital component of user experience design that helps to identify issues and improve the design during product development. With the growth of Virtual Reality (VR), it is important to consider how this technology can be utilized to assist with usability testing. This project aims to compare the effectiveness of usability testing in VR and traditional physical environments to provide insights on how to optimize the testing process in both environments. The result of this study can potentially be used to justify conducting usability tests in Virtual Reality. The study was conducted using a mixed-methods approach, which included both quantitative and qualitative data collection and was organized into user research and evaluation phases. After literary and market research, field research was conducted by deploying online surveys and conducting user interviews. A total of 108 participants were recruited for the online survey study and 10 participants for the user interviews. The goal of the user research phase was to understand the users’ pain points and frustrations when driving. Based on the research data, a solution was designed along with high-fidelity prototypes that were evaluated through usability tests in both a VR environment and a traditional physical environment. There were 14 participants recruited for the usability tests. These tests involved a usability testing session with a high-fidelity prototype of a user interface (UI) using a “Think-Aloud” technique. Each participant completed a series of tasks designed to test both the suitability of the VR and traditional environments for user testing and the usability of the UI design itself. Performance was measured by having each user complete a satisfaction survey after undergoing testing in each environment. This evaluation phase was used to collect feedback from potential users through testing. The findings demonstrate that usability testing of an interactive experience can be effectively conducted in a VR environment. This provides new opportunities for designers to explore innovative ways to engage end-users during the evaluation phase of the design process.
Eye strain caused by excessive eye use, and using design to relieve it

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-04) Yan, Yunqi

In recent years, extended use of computers has become more and more often. Due to the technology’s immaturity and lack of humanized eyecare design, visual fatigue affects more and more people. The American Optometric Association calls this computer vision syndrome or digital eyestrain. Based on research, people who look at screens for two or more hours every day have the most significant risk of this condition. The symptoms of eye strain include tired or soreness, burning, and an itchy feeling in the eye area. People might find that they have difficulty focusing, increased sensitivity to light, blurred or double vision, and other sensations of eye discomfort accompanied by headaches. The result of eyestrain may lead to apathy, inability to study or work efficiently, and further trouble people’s life. Research and experts’ feedback show rare validated methods exist recently to provide computer screen users with systematic eyecare-related strategies. Exploring these facts, this project is dedicated to creating a systematic eye protection design to help more and more computer users reduce eye fatigue caused by long-term computer use. All features and functions involved in this design are based on evidence from research.
GTatrium for Georgia Tech

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12) Hays, Emily L.

In 2018, The Commission for Creating the Next in Education (CNE) at Georgia Tech took a comprehensive look at what higher education might look like in 2040. The resulting document, “Deliberate Innovation, Lifetime Education,” uses strategic foresight to explore the future of education at Georgia Tech and outlines several initiatives for Georgia Tech to provide a more valuable experience to its stakeholders. One of these initiatives is the GTatrium, a scalable gathering place to real and virtual services for Georgia Tech to achieve a distributed global presence. Like the physical atrium of a building, the atrium is a flexible space located near learners. The GTatrium is designed to provide personalized education, career development, advising, and specialized learning experiences to current Georgia Tech students, and to alumni, prospective learners, and the community at large. This master’s project presentation will discuss the research, service design, and overarching strategy of the GTatrium, and aims to address, “How can Georgia Tech serve learners in their communities throughout their liftetimes?” A research goal was to define the GTatrium experience, identify user groups, core services, a conceptual service model, and draw with broad strokes what this could look like for Georgia Tech in the next decade of its development. The presentation will suggest next steps for the development and implementation of the atrium that can be deployed internationally. This project was undertaken in conjunction with the Center for 21st Century Universities, which will continue with the project after the completion of this master’s project.
Electric Bidet Controls for Older Adults

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-05-03) Yen Pham, Kim

Bidet controls represent the capabilities of bidet seats. However, current bidet controls are difficult to operate, graphically confusing, and unintuitive. The purpose of this project is find a usable and useful solution to a bidet control design. The aim of this study is to answer research questions: How to organize information to maximize usability? What type(s) of interactions are easy and comfortable to do? What physical form to facilitate ease of use?
Demonstrating greater sustainability while maintaining desirability of plush dog toys through life cycle assessments and dog owner participation

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-04-30) Raker, Cheyenne M.

Every year, an estimated 634 million dog toys end up in our landfills, which is equivalent to 40,500 tons of waste. These numbers are a result of planned obsolescence due to their short life cycles. Pet businesses induce consumerism by offering dog toys with a limited useful life and therefore creating repeat purchases. Which then leads to millions of toys ending up in landfills every year. This book details the design of a dog plush toy that aims to divert millions of dog toys from the landfill while also decreasing their environmental impact through a life cycle assessment. Additionally, understanding what motivates consumer behavior and how to bring about change was thus seen as key to efforts and strategies to promote more sustainable patterns of consumption of dog plush toys. The project answers the following question: through the lens of a life cycle assessment (LCA), is it possible to design a sustainable dog toy that dog owners are willing to buy? Information gathered from a literature review and several interviews with experts in both the pet and sustainability industry were conducted to understand the problem space in three key areas: • current pet industry market • current sustainability market • target demographic and their habits and desires. From here, the ethnographic research below helped to understand dog owner’s desires and purchasing habits in the forms of: • 1 online survey completed by 300+ dog owners • 8 online interviews • 6 exploratory visits to dog toy stores. This research highlighted that plush squeaker dog toys were the favorite amongst dogs and dog owners. This insight led to an initial LCA calculation using Okala Impact Factors to establish a baseline of their current environmental impacts and an overall understanding of their entire product life cycles. The calculation revealed a significant finding that the extraction of the raw materials in the design of dog plush toys had the highest environmental impact. After collecting all the data, affinity and systems mapping were then used to develop the design criteria. One insight came through regarding the usage of a single material. If a dog toy consists only of a single material, it minimizes raw material extraction. Therefore, requiring no disassembly and consequently being easily recyclable. This insight was an important aspect of the design. Many rounds of concept development and ideation got conducted as new insights and information came regarding the recyclability of dog toys. To minimize the materials collected for manufacturing inspiration came from a previous design project. The project used upcycled t-shirts to create a braided rope dog tug toy. Instead of using the t-shirts as rope, an idea came to use them as stuffing for the toy. Which consequently included the added benefits of reducing separation anxiety in dogs from several articles found online. This idea had several challenges associated with the durability, safety, and recyclability of the dog toy. After several rounds of testing to assess and mitigate these issues, one final concept got narrowed down after meeting the following: solution viability, all design criteria, and all three needs of desirability, profitability, and sustainability. The final prototype came to be a dog plush squeaker toy. It flips inside out to reveal a printed business reply mail label and, therefore, can easily be placed in the mailbox to send to a textile recycling facility. The final prototype was tested and evaluated with seven female millennial dog owners (to match the target demographic) to understand levels of desirability and suggestions for improvement. Once the feedback was collected and addressed into the final design, an LCA calculated and determined its overall environmental impact versus a standard plush toy found at current pet stores. The calculation showed that the new design had a significantly lesser impact. Also, 100% of dog owners stated they would be willing to purchase the dog toy in the evaluation assessment. Therefore, meeting the needs of desirability. In conclusion, it is possible to design a sustainable plush dog toy that dog owners are willing to buy.
Exploring the Challenges and Designing Potential Solutions for Insulin Pump Technologies

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-07-31) Harper, Andy

This study examines the current technology of diabetes management devices, primarily insulin pumps. Insulin pumps are effective tools for the precise control of glucose levels, for type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients. Many design and usability challenges still exist with insulin pump technologies. In this study, we investigated current shortcomings and limitations of insulin pumps through survey and interview data collection methods. Our findings revealed issues with current insulin pumps including: 1) wear-ability and accessibility in public 2) operating devices while performing demanding tasks 3) interruptions with social activities and interactions 4) continuity of maintenance, and 5) interface operations. Using the data from our investigative work, we produced design criteria to develop a novel wrist-worn interface and separate pump design for a closed loop artificial pancreas system. We then evaluated the design through seven remote usability testing sessions with insulin pump users. Our study aspires to inform the future design of novel insulin pumps that enable people with T1D to maintain better control of their glucose levels through consistent and steady interactions with these tools during their everyday activities.
Interaction Design and Product Design of IoT Kitchen Central Hub for North American Market

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-07) Lu, Xinyang

Kitchen is an essential place in our home for food preparation, cooking and having fun activities. According to the market research report from Grand View Research (2015), the global smart kitchen appliances market is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 25% from 2015 to 2022. North America is expected to hold major share in the smart kitchen appliances market. The future of small kitchen appliances is built upon new technologies, and it needs to fit in people’s lifestyles. Based on some initial research, a few future trends were identified, including connection, health cooking, sensing and computing, and interaction. Connection is based on the high-speed development of IoT (Internet of Things). Platform and products embedded and connected with IoT enable the users to control and monitor the household appliances through mobile and digital applications. In addition, these IoT kitchen appliances allow users to improve eating habits, with the help of an abundance of healthy recipes. New cooking methods such as Pressure-cooking and Sous-vide prove to be healthier compared to traditional cooking methods. Sensing and interactive allow users to control their cooking processes with accuracy and thoroughness. With these future trends and an increasingly growing market, there’s a great potential of design opportunities in this market. This research includes the product design and the interactive prototype of the kitchen central hub. It also includes several rounds of comprehensive user research and user testing. The outcomes of this research prove the promising future of IoT kitchen central hub for North American market. Possibility of further improvement is discussed in this end.