Antti Väätänen

User experiences of mobile wellness applications in health promotion: User study of Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax

An ever-increasing number of people are affected by lifestyle-related health risks, such as overweight, physical inactivity and stress. An ongoing Nuadu trial studies the user acceptance and effectiveness of technologies in supporting the wellness management of working-age citizens. The technologies consist of different Web, mobile and wearable solutions. In this paper, we present the user experience results of three mobile wellness applications: the Wellness Diary, Mobile Coach and SelfRelax. We studied their usefulness, perceived usability, usage habits and motivational factors gathered during the first phase of the trial. The data were collected with user experience questionnaires and interviews, as well as actual usage logs from mobile applications. The findings indicate that the usage habits change during the usage period of more than two months towards more practical ways of use. The results also point out several aspects to be considered when developing future wellness applications for long-term use. These are, e.g. adaptability, versatility, guidance and usability.

Users’ Preferences for Ubiquitous Computing Applications at Home

We developed and evaluated a home network and ambient intelligence prototype for wellness management and home automation applications. The evaluation was based on interviews and a user trial at a simulated home environment. This paper describes users’ attitudes towards ubiquitous computing technology at home, and especially what kind of applications they would prefer to use at home. We also aimed to gather qualitative information about what kind of user interfaces would be desired for using these applications. The study generated new ideas to develop the ubiquitous computing enabled home concept further.

UbiPlay: an interactive playground and visual programming tools for children

Children develop important skills at playgrounds. Physical play promotes health and reacting to other children establishes social behavior patterns. By augmenting playground elements with sensor technology, video displays, and computer software, we pursued to take the experience further. This paper describes what was achieved; UbiPlay, a technology platform for programmable interactive playgrounds. UbiPlay allows children to create and play games in interactive playground environments. We present a play space built using the technology and results from qualitative evaluations, performed with 44 school children between the ages of 10 and 12. Results indicate that end-user programmable playgrounds like ours can provide much stimulus and excitement for children.

A situation-aware safety service for children via participatory design

Children are mostly neglected as technology end users, even though they have needs and requirements that should be taken into account in the design of new products and services. This paper introduces a process for a designing situation-aware safety service for children with a unique combination of novel participatory tools, a brainstorming workshop, and scenario writing. The design process includes five phases where the service design team, with multi-science expertise, uses the participatory design tools to gather the needs, fears, and hopes from the end users in the very early phases of the design. We report the lessons learned from the usage of the design process by the pupils, their parents and teachers from one primary school in Finland. We used publicity via the news in local and provincial newspapers, radio, and TV to receive feedback and acceptance from the local society. The design process proved to be powerful and it enabled the gathering and receiving of valuable feedback from both end users and the local society.

A concept to empower self-management of psychophysiological wellbeing: Preliminary user study experiences

In prevention of chronic diseases, health promotion and early interventions based on self-management should be emphasized. Mental health problems and stress cause a significant portion of healthcare costs, and also complicate the management of other chronic conditions. In addition to physical health, psychophysiological and social wellbeing should be equally promoted. Thus, we have previously designed and reported the P4Well or Pervasive Personal and PsychoPhysiological management of WELLness concept for working-age citizens. The concept supports the stress and recovery management on a daily basis through improved health management strategies, and combines psychological methods with personal health technologies. In this paper, we discuss the preliminary user study experiences of ongoing evaluations with two different user groups consisting of: 1) middle-aged men who are using the concept for managing their mental wellbeing or mild depression; and 2) entrepreneurs who are using the concept for coping with stress. Our results provide a preliminary assessment of the role and importance of experts, technologies, and peer-support in the concept.

Using exercise cycle as a haptic input device in a virtual environment

Virku (Virtual Fitness Centre) is a study, in which an exercise cycle is used for navigating in a virtual environment. The cycle acts as a haptic bodily user interface between the user and the simulation. The simulation takes the terrain of the virtual environment into account in order to provide better feedback of the environment for the user. We have found out in usability tests that this kind of interface enhances the users feeling of immersion in the virtual environment.

User Experience and User Acceptance of an Augmented Reality Based Knowledge-Sharing Solution in Industrial Maintenance Work

In industrial service business, maintenance processes can be challenging due to their complexity and knowledge intensiveness. The goal of this study was to evaluate the user experience and user acceptance of an augmented reality (AR) based, knowledge-sharing system, in industrial maintenance. An augmented reality system was evaluated in a focus group and a field study. The results indicate that the user experience was positive and the AR system was well accepted. The participants felt that the AR system was useful for their work and it supported information and knowledge sharing. The social media features for adding and sharing one’s own comments, notes and pictures were seen as very useful. However, some concerns regarding the quality and accuracy of the information content were raised. This study provides insights into AR-based knowledge sharing in industrial maintenance; however, the results can also be utilized in other areas, such as manufacturing.

Human Factors and Ergonomics Evaluation of a Tablet Based Augmented Reality System in Maintenance Work

Augmented reality (AR) technologies start to be mature enough to be used in industrial work settings. However, human factors and ergonomics (HFE) and safety issues have not been considered thoroughly yet. The purpose of this study was to identify what kind of postures users adopt when using a tablet based AR system during a maintenance task. In addition, safety, user experience and user acceptance were studied. Results indicate that the participants adopted varying kind of working postures with the AR system, but none of the postures were severe for the well-being. User experience was positive and user acceptance on a good level. The participants saw some safety concerns related to using the AR system but were mainly concerned if the tablet could be used in the harsh maintenance environments. The findings of this study can be used to improve HFE and safety of AR systems in industrial settings.

Concept of Operations Development for Autonomous and Semi-Autonomous Swarm of Robotic Vehicles

As robotic systems become more complex, new tools and methods are required for the design of human-robot interaction. A Concept of operations (ConOps) is a knowledge sharing artefact that help developers in early decision making and in requirement elicitation so that the final product can meet the demands and expectations. We present here an on-going effort to develop a ConOps for autonomous and semi-autonomous swarm of robotic vehicles for safety-critical domains. The ConOps of a robotic system consists of documents, illustrations and animations describing the characteristics and intended usage of proposed and existing system from the viewpoint of their users.