Search results for "Engineering design process"
showing 10 items of 85 documents
Modelling Mechanical Wave Propagation: Guidelines and experimentation of a teaching–learning sequence
2008
This paper reports the design process and the experimentation of a teaching-learning sequence about the concept of mechanical wave propagation and the role played by media where waves are propagating. The sequence focuses on the central issue of the relationships between observable phenomena, like macroscopic behaviours of waves, and their interpretation and/or explanation in terms of corpuscular characteristics of media. We describe the design process with respect to the general framework of the Educational Reconstruction Model and the pedagogical tools used. Results of a teaching/learning experiment, involving a sample of 75 high school students, are also reported. Data analysis is mainly…
The Effects of the Use of Serious Game in Eco-Driving Training
2016
International audience; Serious games present a promising approach to training and learning. The player is engaged in a virtual environment for a purpose beyond pure entertainment, all while having fun. In this paper, we investigate the effects of the use of serious game in eco-driving training. An approach has been developed in order to improve players’ practical skills in terms of eco-driving. This approach is based on the development of a driving simulation based on a serious game, integrating a multisensorial guidance system with metaphors including visual messages (information on fuel consumption, ideal speed area, gearbox management, etc.) and sounds (spatialized sounds, voice message…
Co-designing a social media service for civic participation
2010
User participation in social media design processes has similarities with civic participation for example in urban planning. Internet enables new virtual environments that can be planned collaboratively and be used for civic participation. In the Monimos case study we developed a social media website for immigrants and multicultural associations in a participatory design process together with the users. In this paper we present the critical issues in co-designing a social media service that aims at civic participation. We also give suggestions for how to cope with the challenges in a multicultural participation process. We claim that constant meta-level discussion about the goals and partic…
Accessing and selecting menu items by in-air touch
2019
Is it possible to realize a non-visual, purely tactile version of an icon-based menu? Driven by such question, a hierarchical tactile dock was designed for an array of ultrasound emitters. The icons were conceived as spatio-temporal variable-speed sequences of tactile stimulation points, that are passively perceived as trajectories drawn on the palm of the hand. The recognition rate on four icons largely improved prior performance results obtained by active haptic exploration. As a result, a four-icons set can be used as the first level of a hierarchy of symbols that can be navigated by touch and gesture. The design process, based on controlled recognition experiments and exploration of dis…
Simplified thermal analysis of naturally ventilated dwellings
1991
Abstract A simplified comprehensive methodology for thermal comfort prediction in a naturally crossventilated room is described. The methodology mainly consists of the following three steps: • - analysis of the dynamic thermal behaviour of the given room, by means of the admittance procedure; • - evaluation of the air flows rates and their velocities in the room, by means of a new simplified method; • - thermal comfort prediction by means of the Fanger's theory. The results obtained appear satisfactory and the simplified methodology makes itself a useful tool for the identification of appropriate choices at the early stages of the design process, regarding naturally ventilated buildings. Th…
An Approach for the Design of Self-conscious Agent for Robotics
2010
Developing complex robotic systems endowed with self- conscious abilities and subjective experience is a hard requirement to face at design time. This paper deals with the development of robotic systems that do not own any a-priori knowledge of the environment they live in and proposes an agent-orientd design process for modelling and implementing such a systems by means of implementing the perception loop occurring between environment, body and brain during subjective experience. A case study dealing with a robocup setup is proposed in order to describe the design process activities and to illustrate the techniques for making the robot able to autonomously decide when an unknown situations…
DETECTING FALLS AT HOME: USER-CENTERED DESIGN OF A PERVASIVE TECHNOLOGY
2016
Falling is the main cause of domestic accidents and fatal injuries to seniors at home. In this paper, we describe the design process for a new pervasive technology (CIRDO). The aim of this technology is to detect falls (via audio and video sensors) and to alert the elderly's family or caregivers. Two complementary studies were performed. Firstly, the actual risk situations of older adults were analyzed. Secondly, social acceptance was investigated for the different homecare field stakeholders. Our results highlight the tensions among social actors towards the tool and their impacts on technology acceptance by the elderly. Also, we show a significant change in the fall process due to the dev…
The role of controversy in engineering design
1997
Abstract To ensure the acceptance of technical systems and products in society, the crucial role of social controversy in technology development has to be more openly recognized. Many of the current acceptance problems of technical systems developed because the social controversy generated by the system under design was not sufficiently taken into account. Actively managed and organized controversy, on the other hand, could become an integral part of the engineering design process and the basis for a new underlying philosophy of design. Technical design in companies and technological organizations could be opened up to the active involvement of social actors usually excluded from it (like t…
Innovative Tools for Sound Sketching Combining Vocalizations and Gestures
2016
International audience; Designers are used to produce a variety of physical and digital representations at different stages of the design process. These intermediary objects (IOs) do support the externalization of ideas and the mediation with the different stakeholders. In the same manner, sound designers deliver several intermediate sounds to their clients, through iteration and refinement. In fact, these preliminary sounds are sound sketches representing the intermediate steps of an evolving creation. In this paper we reflect on the method of sketching sounds through vocalizations and gestures, and how a technological support, grounded in the understanding of the design practice, can fost…
Finding near-perfect parameters for hardware and code optimizations with automatic multi-objective design space explorations
2012
Summary In the design process of computer systems or processor architectures, typically many different parameters are exposed to configure, tune, and optimize every component of a system. For evaluations and before production, it is desirable to know the best setting for all parameters. Processing speed is no longer the only objective that needs to be optimized; power consumption, area, and so on have become very important. Thus, the best configurations have to be found in respect to multiple objectives. In this article, we use a multi-objective design space exploration tool called Framework for Automatic Design Space Exploration (FADSE) to automatically find near-optimal configurations in …