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Contextual
Design:
The Abacus Project
The Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute wished to redesign a
nursery tree calipering device using the methods and processes of HCI.
The device is named the Abacus. Three teammates and I applied our usability
engineering skills to redesigning this device - hardware and software.
Task
Measure and record the diameter of nursery trees. This task is performed
once per year during a 4 week time-span on hundreds to thousands of trees
per day. Capture this data into back-office inventory systems.
User
-Unskilled migrant labor.
-Skilled office workers.
Technology
Palm Pilot interface to an elliptical array of sequentially firing optical
LED's mounted on a "minesweeper" like handle.
Level of Support
Under one hour of training on use of device by office and field users.
Device must be rugged enough to withstand "toss into back of pick-up truck."
Process
- Conduct contextual inquiries with nurseries.
- Model the data. (Adobe
Acrobat Required)
- Walk the data - immerse the team.
- Brainstorm and innovate.
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