Course content
The module focusses on the design of (consumer) products that show intelligent behavior. The designed products are intended to operate in the ‘real world’; i.e. interact with users, making observations of their environment and performing actions that change the state of their environment. Furthermore the products receive an appearance that is functional but also triggers the visual expression. The enablers for intelligence are electronics (microcontrollers, sensors), electro-mechanical actuator functions and software. User interaction may be created in a display plus buttons approach, but is certainly not limited to these techniques.
In the Human Factors part of the Smart Products module, students iteratively design and prototype an user interface according to user-centred design guidelines as well as apply a variety of prototyping techniques such as story boards, paper prototyping and interactive demo's.