Pawan's Portfolio

Introduction

For this project, my team focused on designing an experience for Starship, a company that utilizes autonomous delivery robots to deliver food and other items to customers. With the rapid growth of online shopping and food delivery services, Starship aims to provide a more efficient and eco-friendly alternative to traditional delivery methods. As UX designers, our role is to understand the needs and preferences of Starship's users and design an intuitive and enjoyable experience that a Starship robot can be used other than delivering food.

Inspired by the Starship’s ability to navigate the busy and vast campus of Purdue as well as the additional need for help maintaining a clean campus, the design space chosen was to create a seasonal maintenance robot

Seasonal Maintenance Robot:

To ensure that sidewalks are clear of trash and natural debris such as snow, ice, and large puddles.
Completed by

Adding a cleaning brush tool to the starship that can wick away water, snow, and ice build up as well as small trash spots.
Update the scanning protocols housed within the starship to include real time sidewalk monitoring so that the Starship can communicate with the groundskeeping department to attend to larger issues.
Created a traffic cone protocol that causes the Starship to stay and alert users (students) of dangerous sidewalk conditions until the maintenance team is able to take care of the issue.

Initial Scenario:

It is night time (after hours for Purdue Groundskeeping), and a light dusting of snow is starting to cover the wet sidewalks. The weather is predicted to snow lightly during the night and then freeze by morning. The maintenance crew is equipped to handle the big snow and ice falls, but due to the timing of this, it is likely that the sidewalks will be very icy in the morning since the crews won’t be out with the trucks and larger brushes until mid morning.

Overall Solution:

With this in mind, Purdue Groundskeeping sends out a fleet of Starships at night equipped with smaller brush mechanisms to patrol and tend to the sidewalks throughout the night. While the starships’ overall size is not very large, its existing knowledge of navigating the Purdue sidewalks and constant patrol of these areas helps for the snow to be cleared out little by little and reduce the chance of it melting or refreezing, causing a danger to students.

Added Final Scenario Solution and Additional Features At Play:

As it is currently a Friday night in addition to the snowy conditions, a student is walking back from an evening get together and encounters the Starship sweeping the sidewalk with the brush mechanism. Because of the existing pedestrian scanning software already equipped on the Starship, the Starship is able to sense the proximity of the student and initiates the traffic cone feature. The starship ceases motion and cleaning until the student is out of range so as to not splash the student, changes the color of its flag to red to alert the student of the condition of the sidewalk, and even says “Be careful, ice possible.” The student notices that there is a large patch of ice that cannot be removed by the brush and uses the groundskeeping phone number printed on the starship to leave a message to the groundskeeping department to tend to the issue when they are able to do so.

Initial Scenario:

It is night time (after hours for Purdue Groundskeeping), and a light dusting of snow is starting to cover the wet sidewalks. The weather is predicted to snow lightly during the night and then freeze by morning. The maintenance crew is equipped to handle the big snow and ice falls, but due to the timing of this, it is likely that the sidewalks will be very icy in the morning since the crews won’t be out with the trucks and larger brushes until mid morning.

Overall Solution:

With this in mind, Purdue Groundskeeping sends out a fleet of Starships at night equipped with smaller brush mechanisms to patrol and tend to the sidewalks throughout the night. While the starships’ overall size is not very large, its existing knowledge of navigating the Purdue sidewalks and constant patrol of these areas helps for the snow to be cleared out little by little and reduce the chance of it melting or refreezing, causing a danger to students.

Added Final Scenario Solution and Additional Features At Play:

As it is currently a Friday night in addition to the snowy conditions, a student is walking back from an evening get together and encounters the Starship sweeping the sidewalk with the brush mechanism. Because of the existing pedestrian scanning software already equipped on the Starship, the Starship is able to sense the proximity of the student and initiates the traffic cone feature. The starship ceases motion and cleaning until the student is out of range so as to not splash the student, changes the color of its flag to red to alert the student of the condition of the sidewalk, and even says “Be careful, ice possible.” The student notices that there is a large patch of ice that cannot be removed by the brush and uses the groundskeeping phone number printed on the starship to leave a message to the groundskeeping department to tend to the issue when they are able to do so.

Preliminary Research:

In order to brainstorm ways in which the Starship was going to react to the above scenario, preliminary research of what a starship currently does was done.

In Summary:

Food & grocery delivery autonomous robot
Travel at around 4 mph
Suite of ultrasonic sensors, radars, and 12 cameras to scan surrounding
GPS tracked
Completed 4,000,000 deliveries (November 2022)
Operates on more than 20 university locations
Global fleet of more than 1,115 robots
See appendix for research links, notes, and other details

Starship Design Ideation

Initial Design Space:

Initially the Seasonal Maintenance Starship was equipped with multiple tools besides the brush in order to clean the Starships in all sorts of weather conditions. See appendix for full Design Space Reflection and Analysis
- Examples:
  - Brushes: clear snow, ice, water, trash off sidewalks and into the street or the grass.
  - Shovel/Plow: clear snow and ice/larger trash debris, leaves
  - Vacuum: leaf / trash pick-up
  - Colorful Flags: Alert maintenance and pedestrians.

Preliminary Research:

Pictured above are initial design concepts (most of which were eliminated due to lack of efficiency).

Ideation and Design

Storyboard

The concept is a Seasonal Maintenance Starship, meaning a Starship that is equipped with the appropriate tools to maintain the sidewalks around Purdue campus all year long. This would be accomplished by introducing a new fleet of Starships that are deployed during the off-hour cleaning times of the existing groundskeepers in order to assist in cleaning up minor debris and trash that the maintenance team might not be able to attend to quickly. The goal is not to replace the groundskeeping team, but to provide them with a fleet of cleaning robots that can tend to the sidewalks most heavily used during times of major need such as weekends and snow flurries. The robots would use tools such as brushes and vacuums in order to maintain a clean and unobstructed sidewalk environment. This idea was generated from noticing the increased litter count along busy roads- especially during weekend nights when the maintenance team is not able to be working as well as experiencing slippery and puddle-filled sidewalks while en route to early morning classes, before maintenance crew hours. The robots would interact with Purdue students by alerting them with colored flags of the condition of the sidewalks and would be reporting those conditions back to the groundskeeping headquarters so that they can be properly maintained.

Key Design Methods

Key research and design methods used in the design process include user interviews, surveys, and prototyping. User interviews were conducted to gain insights into user needs and preferences, while surveys were used to gather data on user demographics and behaviors. Prototyping was used to test and refine the design based on user feedback. The goal of these methods was to create a user-centered design that meets user needs and preferences. Key insights gained from these methods included identifying pain points and opportunities for improvement, understanding user behavior and preferences, and validating design decisions through user feedback.

Design Rationale

The design of this project was inspired by the desire to create a product that would not only solve a problem, but also be aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. We conducted extensive research and user testing to ensure that our design met the needs and preferences of our target audience. By utilizing modern design trends and incorporating unique features, we were able to create a product that is both functional and visually appealing. We believe that our design offers a unique solution to a common problem. Although our design received positive feedback from user testing, there are some limitations to consider. Firstly, the design may not be accessible to individuals with visual impairments or other disabilities. Our team made efforts to ensure accessibility during the design process, but further testing and adjustments may be necessary to fully address this issue. Additionally, some users expressed concern that the interface could be overwhelming or confusing for those who are not tech-savvy. We plan to address this limitation by incorporating more user-friendly elements and offering additional support resources for those who may need it.

Solution

The concept is a Seasonal Maintenance Starship, meaning a Starship that is equipped with the appropriate tools to maintain the sidewalks around Purdue campus all year long. This would be accomplished by introducing a new fleet of Starships that are deployed during the off-hour cleaning times of the existing groundskeepers in order to assist in cleaning up minor debris and trash that the maintenance team might not be able to attend to quickly. The goal is not to replace the groundskeeping team, but to provide them with a fleet of cleaning robots that can tend to the sidewalks most heavily used during times of major need such as weekends and snow flurries. The robots would use tools such as brushes and vacuums in order to maintain a clean and unobstructed sidewalk environment. This idea was generated from noticing the increased litter count along busy roads- especially during weekend nights when the maintenance team is not able to be working as well as experiencing slippery and puddle-filled sidewalks while en route to early morning classes, before maintenance crew hours. The robots would interact with Purdue students by alerting them with colored flags of the condition of the sidewalks and would be reporting those conditions back to the groundskeeping headquarters so that they can be properly maintained.

Final Storyboard

Storyboard Scenario:

A Purdue student sees a dirty sidewalk at a street in campus. Thankfully a starship robot is close by and it picks up the trash and cleans the sidewalk. Another scenario is before dawn when it happened to rain that day. Normally the rain turns into sludges of ice and causes students who go to class early to slip. Thankfully, this starship maintenance robot can operate during the early times of dawn to soak up the rain before it turns into ice and keep on warning signs, causing no slips.

Evaluation

Next Steps

Consider Starship robot’s size
Consider overall cost to remodel Starship robot and to add brush mechanism
Contacting Purdue Groundskeeping for seasonal maintenance Starship’s reporting system

User Feedback Conclusion

Identified Problems:

Asked users about sidewalk conditions and starship opinions
Weather related: snow, ice, puddles
Trash: food spills, stains, decomposing items
Like the Starships- helpful personified beings
Response: Seasonal Maintenance Robot
Added brush mechanism for cleaning
Added Traffic Cone Protocol for added student to robot and student to groundskeeping communication and alerts

Contribution Statement:

From this project, I learned many organizational and ideation skills. This was the first project in which the documentation was very broad. I quite enjoyed how we were given the freedom to explore and lead the way in what we wanted to do with the project.

Worked on presentation slides
Worked on documentation
Drafted interview questions
Preliminary research
Organized the drive folder

Team Contributions

Anderson:

Presentation slides editor
Documentation editor & organizer
Preliminary research
Initial sketches
Interview
Whiteboard Brainstorming / Affinity Diagrams
Final sketches
Final storyboard
Mental Model
Scenarios

Neo:

Worked on presentation slides
Worked on documentation
Drafted interview questions
Preliminary research
Organized the drive folder

Grace:

Presentation slides editor
Documentation Compiler/added explanations/transitions
Added summaries and explanations of larger research data for the document and presentation
Scenarios
Preliminary Research
Interview
Whiteboard Brainstorming / Affinity Diagrams
Reflections on design spaces

Hall of Projects

2023

EXERCISE1: value of user experience

2023

PROJECT1: what can a starship do?s

2023

PROJECT2: embodied shopping

2023

PROJECT1: what can a starship do?

Introduction

Inspired by the Starship’s ability to navigate the busy and vast campus of Purdue as well as the additional need for help maintaining a clean campus, the design space chosen was to create a seasonal maintenance robot

Seasonal Maintenance Robot:

Seasonal Maintenance Robot:

To ensure that sidewalks are clear of trash and natural debris such as snow, ice, and large puddles.Completed by

Adding a cleaning brush tool to the starship that can wick away water, snow, and ice build up as well as small trash spots.

Update the scanning protocols housed within the starship to include real time sidewalk monitoring so that the Starship can communicate with the groundskeeping department to attend to larger issues.

Created a traffic cone protocol that causes the Starship to stay and alert users (students) of dangerous sidewalk conditions until the maintenance team is able to take care of the issue.

Initial Scenario:

Overall Solution:

Added Final Scenario Solution and Additional Features At Play:

Initial Scenario:

Overall Solution:

Added Final Scenario Solution and Additional Features At Play:

Preliminary Research:

In order to brainstorm ways in which the Starship was going to react to the above scenario, preliminary research of what a starship currently does was done.

In Summary:

Food & grocery delivery autonomous robot

Travel at around 4 mph

Suite of ultrasonic sensors, radars, and 12 cameras to scan surrounding

GPS tracked

Completed 4,000,000 deliveries (November 2022)

Operates on more than 20 university locations

Global fleet of more than 1,115 robots

See appendix for research links, notes, and other details

Starship Design Ideation

Initial Design Space:

Initially the Seasonal Maintenance Starship was equipped with multiple tools besides the brush in order to clean the Starships in all sorts of weather conditions. See appendix for full Design Space Reflection and Analysis

Examples:

Brushes: clear snow, ice, water, trash off sidewalks and into the street or the grass.

Shovel/Plow: clear snow and ice/larger trash debris, leaves

Vacuum: leaf / trash pick-up

Colorful Flags: Alert maintenance and pedestrians.

Preliminary Research:

Ideation and Design

Ideation and Design

Storyboard

Storyboard

Storyboard

Key Design Methods

Key Design Methods

Key Design Methods

Design Rationale

Design Rationale

Design Rationale

Solution

Final Storyboard

Final Storyboard

Final Storyboard

Storyboard Scenario:

Storyboard Scenario:

Storyboard Scenario:

Evaluation

Evaluation

Evaluation

Next Steps

Consider Starship robot’s size

Consider overall cost to remodel Starship robot and to add brush mechanism

Contacting Purdue Groundskeeping for seasonal maintenance Starship’s reporting system

User Feedback Conclusion

Identified Problems:

Asked users about sidewalk conditions and starship opinions

Weather related: snow, ice, puddles

Trash: food spills, stains, decomposing items

Like the Starships- helpful personified beings

Response: Seasonal Maintenance Robot

Added brush mechanism for cleaning

Added Traffic Cone Protocol for added student to robot and student to groundskeeping communication and alerts

Contribution Statement:

From this project, I learned many organizational and ideation skills. This was the first project in which the documentation was very broad. I quite enjoyed how we were given the freedom to explore and lead the way in what we wanted to do with the project.

Worked on presentation slides

Worked on documentation

Drafted interview questions

Preliminary research

Organized the drive folder

Team Contributions

Team Contributions

Team Contributions

Anderson:

To ensure that sidewalks are clear of trash and natural debris such as snow, ice, and large puddles.
Completed by