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Designteam och förväntande kompetens

Det som förväntas av de som ska ingå i designteamet är deras drivkraft för att skapa och visionera (Sortino 2014). Jag värderar designteamets förmåga att problemlösa och dess kreativitet kring att lösa problem (Sortino 2014). Precis som Håkan Edeholt säger tror jag också på en dynamik mellan designteamets medlemmar (Edeholt). Att de ska berika olika tankesätt för att uppnå bättre resultat ihop. Detta stärker Nelson och Stolterman, då de säger att all design och dess aktiviteter är baserat på dynamiska relationer mellan både klienter, kunder och designteamets kollegor (Nelson, Stolterman, 14:41).
Joshua Sortino menar på att innan man anställer sina designmedlemmar bör man bekanta sig med de olika områden som berör design. Han menar på att tankesätten kan se olika ut för de som tex. jobbar med ux design och de som jobbar med brand design (Sortino 2014).

Ben Jordan från invision app har under en tio års period jobbat med att bygga och utveckla designteam och menar på att en specifik modell som han kallar "agancy" modellen fungerar väldigt bra (Jordan, Ben). Jag tänkte under sammansättningen av mitt designteam förhålla mig till denna modell.
Modellen, som är likt en pyramid, håller design direktörerna högst upp i toppen.  Ben Jordan menar på att en bra Design direktör uppmuntrar dess designmedlemmar till ett bättre arbete genom generell eller individuell återkoppling och pushar dess medlemmar till att göra sitt bästa.
I det mellersta lagret av den pyramidformade modellen förklarar Jordan som senior designers. En senior designer har tillräckligt med erfarenhet för att dels ha en djup förståelse för hur designarbete fungerar och han kunskaper till att lära andra designers. Det understa lagret definierar han som junior designers som han beskriver inte är mindre talangfulla än senior designers utan att de på ett annat sätt kan sälja designen (Jordan, Ben).

Mitt Team:

Design director (Jag)
Digital designer - En digital designer berikar kunskap om många områden som  rör design. I min utbildning har jag med mig kunskaper som grafisk design, interaktionsdesign, visuell design och protoyputveckling. Viktiga egenskaper som berör den designprocess som jag och mitt team ska anta.

Senior designers
Product designer - Kristina Bruun beskriver jobbtiteln product designer som en designer som har kunskapen att designa vilken produkt som helst. De har kunskaper inom CAD, 3d program och kan på ett visuellt sätt visa sina tankar och idéer (Bruun). En produkt designer ska jobba med mixen av både konst och vetenskap (Nelson, Stolterman, 14:45).

Junior designers

Vad som förväntas av mitt team

Det som förväntas av mitt designteam är att de ska berika förmågan att skapa design som ska kunna ge klienten eller kunden något de inte visste att de ville ha (Nelson, Stolterman, 14:42). Målet är att mitt designteam ska ha förmågan att uppfylla kundens alla önskemål och kunna ge dem något som de inte förväntade att de ville ha. Det förväntas också att mitt designteam via en öppen kommunikation med klienten både förstår vad som önskas men också att de kan förutse vad klienten kanske inte ännu vet att denne vill ha (Nelson, Stolterman, 14:43).
Det förväntas även att mitt team tillsammans ska kunna ge varandra feedback, se vad de andra i teamet jobbar med och att kommunikationen fungerar mellan teamets medlemmar (Jordan, Ben).
Joshua Sortino menar på att problemlösning måste vara av allas intresse eftersom att det är det som design handlar om. Han menar även på att det är viktigt att ha designers i sitt team som har ett öga för visuell stil (Sortino 2014).

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Three spaces of innovation:

Inspiration

Ideation

Implementation

Charles Eames menar på att utan begränsningar kan inte design hända (Brown, 09:17).
En design tänkare bringar både inspiration, ideation och implementationer tillsammans i en balans (Brown, 09:18).

Design

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Design and destiny
designa för att förstå vad du inte ska göra, han menar på att det är mer powerfull att veta vad du inte ska designa för att komma vidare. Han menar på att vår imagination och våra liv. Han menar på från det vi en gång var visste vi inte var vi skulle vara idag, lika så att det vi är idag vet vi inte vad vi kommer att vara långt fram i framtiden. Visionera framtiden är att delta i designern för framtiden.

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För att utforska och beskriva värdet med en satsning använder vi en modell som heter Effektkarta®. Den beskriver värdet för verksamheten som blir resultatet av lyckad användning. Den beskriver också hur användare beter sig då de använder tjänsten och vad som lösningen därför måste tillhandahålla för att de ska uppleva tjänsten som värdefull. Effektkartan innehåller villkoren (vi kan kalla det kraven) för att tjänsten ska kunna anses som lyckad, vilket gör att det går att testa lösningar mycket tidigt och kontinuerligt. I effektkartan är användarna prioriterade efter sitt bidrag till effektmålet, vilket ger bästa möjliga stöd för att utforma lösningar och planera projektet.

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Kanske kommer vi förr eller senare till slutsatsen att beprövade metoder inte alltid är lämpliga och många gånger otillräckliga. Varje designsituation är unik och ofta är det allt för många variabler som påverkar en framgångsrik designprocess där både logik och intuition ska samspela med varandra. Då utgör metoderna ingen genväg till kunskap om problemet och dess lösning. Istället vilar det på den enskilde designern eller designteamet och dess förmåga att hitta kreativa strategier – lösningar som kan bli avgörande för metodernas verkan på processen och hela designprojektets framgång.

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En divergerande metod uppmuntrar till idégenerering för att utforska designsituationens oklara gränser. Här är exempelvis brainstorming en klassisk metod.

I transformationsfasen får vanligtvis kreativiteten störst spelrum. Råmaterialet utgörs av resultatet från den divergenta fasen och återspeglas genom olika koncept som fastställer begränsningar av designrymden.

Konvergens syftar till att reducera antalet valmöjligheter och formulera en riktning på processen. Här är exempelvis metoder som bland annat kan utgöra underlag för tester och utvärdering viktiga.

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Den förutsättningslösa och objektiva analysen av ett designproblem, som är typisk för denna modell, motsvaras kanske inte hur vi faktiskt agerar i en designsituation där designprocessen framförallt kännetecknas av ett syntestänkande, en strategi som är lösningsfokuserad istället för problemorienterad. Syntestänkandet kan påbörjas tidigt i processen genom att olika lösningsförslag presenteras, vilket i stor utsträckning främjas av designtänkandets visuella och gestaltande karaktär där lösningar ständigt testas mot problemen.

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Men designprocessen är på intet sätt en linjär process. Ofta ser vi den som ett cykliskt förlopp där en återkopplingsslinga sambinder analys, syntes och utvärdering, som itereras från en mer eller mindre abstrakt nivå till en allt högre grad av konkretisering. Det innebär också att det blir problematiskt att dra en tydlig linje mellan analys och syntes. Varje akt av syntetisering tvingar nämligen fram ytterligare analyskrav. Analys och syntes kan alltså komma att framstå som oupplösligt sammanflätade i en designprocess.

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Det vanligaste och kanske mest attraktiva sättet är att dela in designprocessen i tre grundläggande sekvenser genom de logiska stegen analys, syntes och utvärdering. Denna linjära representationsmodell kom att etableras under 60-talet och beskrivs schematiskt nedan:

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Konstnären, designern och ingenjörens rymd som de har att arbeta inom. Tänket är olika mellan de olika rollerna, han menar på att detta oftast är till stor fördel. Kan såklart sälla till problem om man inte accepterar att alla inte tänker som man själv gör.

Att designern står någonstans mellan konstnären och ingenjören.
Designerns likheter med konstnären på den kulturella arenan och där man sedan applicerar det till den kommersiella arenan med ingenjören. (produktutvecklande miljö).

Ingenjörerna jobbar mer rationellt på sin kant, de räknar fram. Medans den kulturella sidan (konstnären) jobbar mer intuitivt.

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Businesses exist for one simple reason: to solve a big problem. At the core of every great product or service is an unfulfilled need that reaches a big enough market. But it’s not enough to have a great idea that solves a big problem; behind each successful company stands a flexible team that can efficiently turn a vision into a growing business. The 9 tips below will help you organize your team for success.

Management Type: Market Trumps Functional Trumps Matrix.
All organizational structures are evil; but when you have to, align your organization around markets. Aligning employees around markets with a flattened organizational structure increases efficiency, removes gridlock, eliminates conflicting priorities and speeds up the decision-making process in an industry where you’re constantly racing against the clock. (A great example of matrix-style management can be seen when Peter Gibbons messes up his TPS reports in Office Space.)

Empower People to Make Decisions.
Too often, decisions move up the management chain to people who have the least amount of knowledge to make the best decision. Big decisions shouldn’t always be made by management. If you have a smart team, you should empower each person to make decisions that apply to their own groups and roles. In addition to speeding up decisions and helping shape current team members into future managers, this will also instill a sense of ownership throughout your entire team.

Strategic Planning Should Focus on Solutions.
After co-founding several companies, I realized that “strategic planning”–when the management team sits down to figure out where the company should be going–is often a major waste of time and takes the focus away from where your energy should be spent–building a great product. You should be strategically thinking about what problems to solve, not about revenue projections, profits or other forecasts. If you build a great product that solves a big problem, the numbers will follow.

–– ADVERTISEMENT ––

Build Consensus and A Sense of Ownership Through BPT.
The quickest and most efficient way to solve a problem and come up with the best solution is through what I call the Brainstorm Prioritization Technique (BPT). If you have a smart team, they’ll be able to come up with the right answers. BPT will draw out all possible answers, weed out any bad or unfeasible options, build consensus within your team and save time. So how does BPT work? Just follow these five steps:

1. Figure out which team-members should be involved in the brainstorming process based on the problem you’re trying to solve. Try to limit the group to 10; groups that are too big can be difficult to manage.

2. After you’ve assembled the right group of people, clearly state the specific problem you’re trying to solve and allow everyone to shout out possible solutions without taking the time to analyze each option. Write down all the ideas for everyone to see.

3. When you have come up with a good number of possible solutions–anywhere from twenty to 100 ideas–divide the number of possible solutions by three. That will be the number of votes each team-member has.

4. Once everyone has had a chance to analyze the options, the BPT leader should read each idea out loud, take a vote and write the number of votes next to the corresponding ideas. Typically, only a few ideas will receive the most overwhelming number of votes. If more than three or four options garner a lot of votes, eliminate the low scoring options and repeat the BPT.

5. When you have three to four good solutions, research and test each option to figure out which one is most feasible and effective.

Once you’ve completed the BPT, you’ll have achieved the Nirvana of management: knowing which top one or two things to focus on, and consensus around those ideas.

Embrace Self Interest.
In the end, people will always do what’s in their self-interest; rather than fight it, help your employees align their own self-interest with organizational-interests. Allow your team-members to move into new groups and to align themselves with their own self-interests within the company, and reward managers for moving great people out of their groups when they see a better fit.

Forget About Skills When Hiring.
You can always teach skills, but you can’t teach smart. Don’t hire someone based on their current skills; hire people who have raw intelligence and are competitive athletes who will learn quickly on the job. Some of the smartest people I’ve hired have come from schools that don’t show up at the top of any college-ratings list. At the end of the day, the most interesting problems are the ones that nobody’s ever faced before–especially in a startup–so you need to hire people who can think outside the box and come up with unique solutions to complex problems.

Seniority Is Evil.
Hires, fires and promotions should never be determined by seniority; instead, these decisions should only be based on merit. A lot of times you’ll see people who have a sense of entitlement just because they’ve worked somewhere the longest, even though newer members of a team might be the ones coming up with the best ideas or working the hardest. I always tell my team at FindTheBest that I have to earn my job as CEO everyday; if they show that they’re better than me as CEO, then they can have my job.

Don’t Let Customers Dictate the Solution.
When you organize around your market, hence your customer, you’ll be in a better position to see their pain points. Let your customers dictate the problem, but never the solution. Customers sometimes see problems that you don’t because you’re oftentimes too ingrained in the product. When it comes to the solution, however, there’s nobody better (or at least there shouldn’t be anyone better) than your own team to come up with the best answer.

The Most Obvious Solution is Often Overlooked.
As I mention in my book, The Map of Innovation: Creating Something Out of Nothing, it’s the obvious answers that are frequently overlooked. Too often, people aren’t satisfied with obvious solutions, or think that simple solutions can’t be good ones, when in fact they can be the least costly and most effective.

–Kevin O’Connor, cofounder of DoubleClick, is the founder and CEO of FindTheBest, an unbiased data-driven comparison engine

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Tools of the trade

Team communication

You may be picking up on a theme here. Communication is key. Designers are passionate about what they do, so they tend to talk about it. A lot. They share work in progress, links to amazing things, and … a lot of hilarious animated GIFs.

Here’s some things to keep in mind when setting up how your team will communicate.

Build in focus: If you create great team culture, there may be “too much” communication happening. So create ways to help people focus. This can range from “library time”—periods of required silence—to “caves”—spaces where people can be alone and concentrate.

Talk, don’t walk: Sometimes, there’s no replacement for face time. But a walk down the hall can be a real time sink. A team chat application, like Slack, can help people distinguish between what can be typed and what just can’t.

Be open to feedback: People tend to bend the rules to their liking. So instead of being prescriptive, be open to feedback and adjustment. Work to build in a few ways to keep the team communicating, while also keeping them focused and productive.

Sharing assets and designs

This one is simple but critical. Set up a place for the easy sharing of assets, pattern libraries, corporate styles, and project files. There are multiple options, but Dropbox for Teams is still my go-to.

Once you’ve set this up, you’ll need some information architecture. Find your most detail-focused, task-oriented designer—or your content strategist—and ask them to develop a filing system. It may seem annoying or a waste of time, but with proper organization, you’ll save hours. You have no idea how quickly an unorganized Dropbox can sprawl out of control. Well, maybe you do.

Here’s an example of my Dropbox setup for teams:

Putting it all into practice

At the end of the day, the most important thing is that you establish some level of process and guidelines for your team. Even if you’ve got a small team—eventually, you won’t be so small.

In the absence of structure, people introduce their own rules. The best teams function freely within the rails of a carefully considered processes.

If you have anything to add, or questions, I’d love to hear from you. This is a fascinating topic for me that I love talking with designers about.

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Design reviews

Effective design reviews are critical to any team’s success, but they can be harder than you might think. The right review process builds the team culture and can have some very real results, such as:

Improved productivity: Timelines are priceless. Without them, even the best and most productive designers can let work slide. Knowing you need to show up with a solution keeps you on the ball.

More solidarity: Getting your team together to talk is critical. When you see what your teammates are working on—and get to weigh in on it—it builds a sense of community, of being part of something bigger than you.

Stronger communication skills: Remember all that stuff I said about learning to sell your solutions being a big part of growing as a designer? Presenting, getting feedback, and giving feedback can all help grow your communication skills—and your design skills.

Better work: Once your team gets into the cadence of regularly scheduled reviews, you’ll see the quality of work improve. Presenting your work forces you to step back from the problem and use a different part of your brain. Plus, it’ll be easier to spot deviations from existing patterns—not to mention superior solutions you can use in your own work.

Now, knowing the impact and necessity of design reviews, there are a few practical things to keep in mind.

Do not skip the review: When the production schedule’s full and everyone’s cranking, it’s tempting to blow by a scheduled design review. Don’t do it! Sometimes, you’ll have no choice, but don’t make a habit of canceling. Your team needs to feel the gentle push of a looming deadline. Contrary to popular belief, deadlines are a designer’s best friend.

Everyone gets a turn: Every team is blessed with a chatty designer. They always have something to say about every design and take up most of the review time. Moderate this. The team needs to hear from everyone, and the shy designers need a turn to practice presenting, questioning, and defending work.

Cover all the things: Design reviews have a bad habit of running to overtime. When starting the review, set the presentation order and give each person a set amount of time. When their time is up, move on. Here’s my rule of thumb: if it takes more than 15–20 minutes to review a design, it either isn’t working or it’s big enough to warrant its own meeting.

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Design directors

An effective director asks, “Why?” Not to put designers on the defensive, but to encourage them to clearly and effectively articulate their ideas and rationale. It’s a powerful question, because it forces designers to view their solutions from different perspectives and truly understand the user stories that underpin a successful design. Plus, it helps grow more senior designers.

The best directors never take credit for the final design. Instead, they’re facilitators. They succeed when they push designers to craft more meaningful stories—both directly, through individual feedback, and indirectly, through building the right team culture.

Senior designers

Designers become senior when they understand why their designs work. They’ve developed a deep understanding of how to design experiences that matter—and how to help other designers do it too.

Senior designers should also be skilled in explaining and defending their work. Their positions are founded in facts, not opinions. They fight for the right solution, not the trending one.

Junior designers

To repeat, the distinction between junior and senior is not a question of talent. It’s all about the ability to sell a design. Once a designer can form a defensible point of view, present with conviction, and not fold under pressure, they’re well on their way to becoming senior.

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HOW TO DESIGN YOUR DESIGN TEAM

For 10 years now, I’ve been focused on building and nurturing effective design teams. And while everyone has their own definition of success for a design team, in my experience, some elements must be in place for the team to truly be effective.

With that in mind, here’s how I set up design teams, the tools we use, and the essential processes that ensure success.

Team structure

Structure can make or break a team, and the one I’ve seen work time and again is the “agency” model. (That may not be the ideal name, but how it works is more important than what it’s called.)

The agency model is pyramidal, with a few directors at the top, a larger group of senior designers leading teams in the middle, and junior designers forming the foundation.

Here’s how I see each role, its responsibilities, and its criteria for success.

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Design is in high-demand.
Simply put, there aren’t enough good designers to fulfill the industry demand. Sourcing can be difficult but it’s not impossible. Dribbble and Authentic Jobs posts will surface decent candidates if you have a brand they want to work for.

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If you can design, code doesn't matter.
The industry is really hung up on whether or not designers need to code. It doesn’t really matter. Coding or not, there’s always plenty of work on a designer’s to-do list. Don’t skimp by passing on a great designer who can’t code just so you can “kill two birds with one stone” by hiring a mediocre designer who can. (But by all means, if they’re a good designer who can code, hire them!)

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Designers with a sense for visual style are important.
As your company grows, you’ll need help with logos, branding, etc… and many product designers with visual sense find this work therapeutic in their down time. (Unless you want an ugly product that turns away customers, don’t overlook the usefulness of good aesthetics!)

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"Design" is not one thing.
There’s illustration design, brand design, visual design, interaction design, UX design, and even design engineers. “Product designers” have multiple skills and many companies assume a product designer will cover everything. However, every designer has their strengths. Some will be better at visual design while others might excel at designing flows and funnels. Familiarize yourself with these skills and define what you’re looking for before you start hiring.

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Designers should love to solve problems.
Problems are universal. Product design, communication design, and illustration all have their own unique challenges to overcome on a daily basis.

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A good designer is like a Miner’s Canary.Designers should act as an early warning system to spot problems before they occur. They should be able to forsee potential implications of their product and design decisions.

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How to Hire a Designer & Build a Design TeamAugust 12th, 2014. Joshua Sortino

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How to Hire a Designer & Build a Design TeamAugust 12th, 2014. Joshua Sortino

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Don't make exceptions.Even if you're extremely desperate for help, a bad employee will cost you more time and money than what they temporarily saved you. If you absolutely can't wait, hire someone who is teachable.

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Ask yourself, "what does this person do better than I can?"Each designer should bring a unique skill to the team. When everyone is good at something different, everyone settles into projects that fit their strengths and you’ll be less likely to run into ego battles.

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Problem solving is the most important skillIt's better to hire someone who has a problem solver's mindset but lacks a specific skill than to hire someone who has that skill but lacks a problem solver's mindset.

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Makers make the best employees.
People who have a passion to create and build will be your best employees. Base your decision on their personality first and their skills second. Anything can be learned with the right mindset.

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Del 3 består av tre delar, designteamets sammansättning dess kompetenser etc, hur designprocessen är planerad och vilka metoder detta arbete stödjer sig på.

"Designteam, designprocess och valda metoder"

Presentation av ert färdiga designteam, beskrivning av hur er tänkta designprocess (designen av er designprocess) ska se ut  (tex genom att beskriva hur det planerade designarbetets progression ska säkras) och vilka metoder den stöder sig på i relation till det efterfrågade.  Här bör ni använda någon form av diagram, scheman eller projektplan för att synliggöra er tänkta process. Redovisas på 4- 6 st a4 i PDF format med rubriken "Designteam, designprocess och valda metoder".

Redovisningen sker alltså på minst 6 st och maximalt 9 st a4 sidor i pdf format.

Till stöd för detta arbete har ni förutom det som angivits i schemat kapitel 1 i Change by design

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Del 2, Utbyta tankar och idéer i era respektive grupper "Återkoppling på designteam"

I andra delen så ska ni i era respektive grupper och i valt fora (skype, chatt eller annat konferenssytem) presentera era egna individuella förslag på designteam och utbyta erfarenheter och perspektiv, tankar och idéer med varandra. Konsensus är inte målet med detta moment utan ett sätt för er att iterera, precisera och utveckla era respektive designteam. De tankar och återkopplingar ni fick från era gruppmedlemmar samt hur ni vill ta dessa vidare med er, redovisas på 1 - 2 st a4 i PDF format med rubriken "Återkoppling på designteam".

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Del 1 förslag på designteamets sammansättning och kompetens. 2 st a4 i PDF format "förslag på designteam"

Först ska ni med utgångspunkt i ert egna design koncept, sätta samman ett lämpligt designteam med den kompetens som ni tror ni behöver för att lösa uppgiften på bästa sätt. Sedan fundera över och motivera varför ni valt de olika kompetenser ni gjort (vilket förvänat inflytande de ska ha, se the design way Kapitel 2). Detta redovisas på 2 - 3 st a4 i PDF format som presenteras för er grupp och bifogas i inlämingen i delmoment 3 med rubriken "förslag på designteam". Ni har en budget på 700 000kr och räknar en timkostnad på 1000kr timmen

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I denna uppgift ska vi röra oss från designarbetets relation till desigteorin till hur designteorin kan användas till att skapa arbetsformer med rätt kompetenser inom designområdet. Här ska ni med ert egna designförslag som bas (det ni utvecklat i delprov 1 och 2) utforma ert egna förslag på ett designteam, ta fram fungerande designprocesser och relveanta metoder, som tillsammans ska säkra den efterfrågade utkomsten (ert designförslags förverkligande). I detta fallet en argumenterande prototyp som tydligt visar på förtjänsterna med ert designförslag. Designprojektet är tänkt att löpa över ett år och i slutändan ska ett designförslag kunna demonstreras i lämplig form.

Arbetet görs enskilt och i tydlig dialog med kurslitteraturen, men med ett moment där ni i grupper (grupperna organiserar ni själva i grupper om 3-4 personer) (17-21 oktober) diskuterar och utbyter idéer kring hur ni utformat era respektive designteam. Ni redogör för  vilka kompetenser ni vill ha med (vilken förvänat inflytande de ska ha), vilka metoder ert designteam ska använda er av, och hur ni ska sätta upp en process för att genomföra detta. Det är alltså inte frågan om ett designförslag på en produkt utan ett bud på hur designarbetet kan designas.

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Evaluation of an electronic video game for improvement of balance

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Evaluation of an electronic video game for improvement of balance

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With high fidelity graphics, visual scene motion along with self motion in controlling the game, and the strong sense of immersion that these Virtual Environments (VE) provide, simulator sickness symptoms can be produced (Sparto et al. 2004; Kennedy et al. 1993). Simulator sickness is similar to motion sickness, and can manifest itself through a wide variety of symptoms.

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Som namnet gärna antyder så är produkten i det stora hela en bräda. Längden är cirka 60 cm, eller också som en något mindre skateboard. Till skillnad från en vanlig skateboard så är inte en Hoverboard raklång, och den har inte sina hjul på undersidan av själva brädan. Produkten använder självklart hjul, men på en Hoverboard placeras de istället längst ut på brädans sidor – ett hjul på varje sida. Hjul är betydligt mycket större än på en vanlig Skateboard. Det ökar fordonets komfort, säkerhet och ljudlösa drift. Så istället för att stå på sneddan, som en skateboardåkare skulle ha gjort, så står du på bredden, mycket stabilt och bekvämt. En Hoverboard är helt motoriserad, så fordonet är självgående och du behöver inte själv få den att färdas framåt. Det betyder att du inte alls behöver ta fart, eller stanna genom att sätta ner en fot. Broms, gas och svängning styr med dina fötter, och din vikt. Köreffekten uppnås genom två kraftfulla elmotorer, en för varje sida vid hjulen. Motorerna hämtar ström från ett kraftfullt batteri, som typiskt har kapacitet att åtminstone några timmars kontinuerlig drift. Det ger en imponerande räckvidd på upp till 20-30 kilometer, på bara en endaste laddning. Hoverboardens motorer byggs på avancerad elektronik som utnyttjar två gyroskop. Gyroskopens funktions är att ständigt hålla koll på brädans lutning förhållande till en horisontell vinkel. Detta används inte bara till att hålla balansen, utan är också den gas, och broms, som förarens använder för att utnyttja sin Hoverboard. Om Hoverboarden tippas framåt så driver den också framåt med hjälp av motorerna. Detsamma gäller tvärtom, luta dig bakåt och så kör den självklart baklänges. Med andra ord så drivs en Hoverboard av samma princip som en Segway. Den största skillnaden är att en Hoverboard kostar en tiodel så lite som en Segway.

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The purpose of this review is to explore existing research on the physiological aspects of difficult rock climbing. Findings will be categorized into the areas of an athlete profile and an activity model. An objective here is to describe high-level climbing performance; thus the focus will primarily be on studies that involve performances at the 5.11/6c (YDS/French) level of difficulty or higher. Studies have found climbers to be small in stature with low body mass and low body fat. Although absolute strength values are not unusual, strength to body mass ratio is high in accomplished climbers. There is evidence that muscular endurance and high upper body power are important. Climbers do not typically possess extremely high aerobic power, typically averaging between 52–55 ml·kg−1·min−1 for maximum oxygen uptake. Performance time for a typical ascent ranges from 2 to 7 min and oxygen uptake (V̇O2) averages around 20–25 ml·kg−1·min−1 over this period. Peaks of over 30 ml·kg−1·min−1 for V̇O2 have been reported.V̇O2 tends to plateau during sustained climbing yet remains elevated into the post-climb recovery period. Blood lactate accumulates during ascent and remains elevated for over 20 min post-climbing. Handgrip endurance decreases to a greater degree than handgrip strength with severe climbing. On the basis of this review, it appears that a specific training program for high-level climbing would include components for developing high, though not elite-level, aerobic power; specific muscular strength and endurance; ATP–PC and anaerobic glycolysis system power and capacity; and some minimum range of motion for leg and arm movements.

Phillip B. Watts

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Sportsklättring (SC) är en form av träning som kräver komplexa och varierbara rörelser och för att skydda skyddet klättring det kan enkelt användas som ett säkert och användbart sätt att behandla personer med olika fysiska funktionshinder. Hållare som används för klättrare med funktionshinder är många och större. Höjningen av väggen är vanligen 90◦. Patienter bär ett klättringsbälte och är säkrade med topprepssystemet med en Gri-Gri, som är en självlåsande beläggningsanordning. Detta sätt att skydda patienterna kan säkert klättra och vila när och varhelst det behövs med hjälp av en utbildad person belaying.
När man klättrar regelbundet upplever klättraren förstärkning av olika muskelgrupper, i synnerhet med posturala muskler som är ansvariga för balans och samordning samt förstärkning av de som inte används ofta, till exempel handflator och fotmuskler [9]. Förbättrad muskeluthållighet och funktionalitet hos musklerna med anpassad och rimlig och justerad träning kan vara effektiv för att minska trötthet hos MS-patienter

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Influence of sports climbing and yoga on spasticity, cognitive function, mood and fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis

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Influence of sports climbing and yoga on spasticity, cognitive function, mood and fatigue in patients with multiple sclerosis

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic autoim- mune inflammatory and demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Demyelination in association with axonal damage leads to the slowing or blockage of conduction resulting in the majority of typical MS symptoms [1]. Spasticity, cognitive impairment, change of mood and fatigue are only a few of the symptoms significantly reducing the quality of life in MS patients [2]. Symptomatic treatment of MS is therefore of great importance, especially with various types of physical therapy in conjunction with pharmacotherapy [3].

The influence of yoga and other kinds of aerobic exer- cises on MS symptoms has been studied, while the possible influence of SC is very poorly investigated. In our study we investigated effects of sports climbing (SC) and yoga on spas- ticity, cognitive impairment, mood change and fatigue in MS patients.

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.hkr.se/science/article/pii/S0303846710000648

OrjanaVelikonjaaKatarinaČurićaAnaOžurabSaša ŠegaJazbecb

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Discovered in 1911, superconduc-
tivity is a phenomenon that appears
in many metals at a very low tem-
perature. When a metal becomes
superconductive, it starts conduct-
ing currents perfectly, without any
electric resistance or becoming
heated. Moreover, if a magnet is
brought close to a superconductor,
the latter generates electric currents that repel the magnet and cause it to levitate (Fig. 1a). In certain types of super- conductors called “type II superconductors,” the situation is more complex: Instead of the magnetic eld being completely repelled, a compromise situation is created, in which the mag- netic eld penetrates the superconductive material along tiny tubes called “vortices.” These vortices tend to pin themselves on certain points of the material. The magnet still levitates but is now hooked to the ceramic material by these magnetic tubes, which work like tiny invisible anchors. If the magnet is pulled away, the superconductor stays magnetically hooked and becomes suspended—as shown in Fig. 1b. In 1986 the discovery of new types of ceramics that could become super- conductive at a much higher temperature (as high as about -120 ̊C or -184 ̊F) opened new elds of research which are very active today. However, the origin of superconductivity in these ceramics still remains one of the greatest scienti c mysteries

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Lexus Hoverboard - The Future is Here (2016 Update) Ever Imagined about flying skateboards? Lexus recently came up with a hoverboard that works with superconducters, liquid nitrogen and magnets. Here we present, everything that you need to know about the hoverboard.

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Robots are usually expected to be rigid, fast and efficient. But researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)’s Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) have turned that notion on its head with their soft robots.

Soft robots, powered by muscle-like actuators, are designed to be used on the human body in order to help people move. They are made of elastomers, including silicon and rubber, and so they are inherently safe. They are controlled by changing the air pressure in specially designed ‘soft balloons’, which also serve as the robot’s body. A predictive model that can be used to carefully control the mechanical behavior of the robots’ various modules has just been published in Nature - Scientific Reports.

Potential applications for these robots include patient rehabilitation, handling fragile objects, biomimetic systems and home care. “Our robot designs focus largely on safety,” said Jamie Paik, the director of the RRL. “There’s very little risk of getting hurt if you’re wearing an exoskeleton made up of soft materials, for example” she added.

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En tanke: det ideala skulle vara att med hjälp av det digitala, kunna tillbringa något som kan jobba tillsammans med kroppen så att den fungerar som "vanligt". Att det digitala kan bli ett med kroppen.

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Keep an eye out for the premiere of Orphan Black Season 4 in April 2016 on BBC America! Official website: http://www.bbcamerica.com/orphan-black/ Official Twitter page: https://twitter.com/OrphanBlack Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/orphanblacktv

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Samhällsanpassad
Ensamhet
Tyngd
propeller
Assistent
bensår
kunna röra sig fritt (klättra)
rulla fram med kroppen
styltar
liggsår
muskler
mjukt
kullerbytta
bärhjälp

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Facial paralysis is the loss of voluntary muscle movement on one or both sides of the face inhibits the movement of orbicularis oculus. People with facial paralysis cannot blink which triggers dry eye and it affects the lives of many people. We propose a novel approach for supporting blinking with facial wearable robotic technology. This robot has a novel eyelid gating support mechanism using deformation of elastomer for recreating eye blink, triggered by blink detection on healthy side. We evaluated this system witha healthy participantand indicated the feasibility of eye blink support for people with facial paralysis.

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Det första mobilitetsproblemet som äldre upplever är faller. Fall resulterar i brutna ben, blåmärken och rädsla för att falla. Äldre ben bryts lättare än yngre ben och de läker mindre snabbt och inte lika helt. Om en höft är sprickad, kan det vara nödvändigt att stannar, vandrare eller rullstolar permanent. Fall är en viktig orsak till skada och död, så förebyggande är viktigt.

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Robots are usually expected to be rigid, fast and efficient. But researchers at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL)’s Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL) have turned that notion on its head with their soft robots.

Soft robots, powered by muscle-like actuators, are designed to be used on the human body in order to help people move. They are made of elastomers, including silicon and rubber, and so they are inherently safe. They are controlled by changing the air pressure in specially designed ‘soft balloons’, which also serve as the robot’s body. A predictive model that can be used to carefully control the mechanical behavior of the robots’ various modules has just been published in Nature - Scientific Reports.

Potential applications for these robots include patient rehabilitation, handling fragile objects, biomimetic systems and home care. “Our robot designs focus largely on safety,” said Jamie Paik, the director of the RRL. “There’s very little risk of getting hurt if you’re wearing an exoskeleton made up of soft materials, for example” she added.

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Metoder:
Brainstorming:
Black design brainstorming:
Emperi vetenskaps research
Mindmap
Kollage

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Keep an eye out for the premiere of Orphan Black Season 4 in April 2016 on BBC America! Official website: http://www.bbcamerica.com/orphan-black/ Official Twitter page: https://twitter.com/OrphanBlack Official Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/orphanblacktv

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M+D Crutch is a revolutionizing mobility aid that will forever change the way we use and see crutches! It provides a painfree experience allowing you to lead the life you want to live. www.mobilitydesigned.com

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1.2. Actuation Systems

Supplying power to a high-speed legged machine using currently available actuation technology is a challenge. This is particularly true if the machine is expected to be energetically autonomous. In dynamic locomotion, the load experienced by each leg is at least three times the static load on that leg, and it may be much more for running gaits. The cost of building a structure and actuation system capable of providing the performance needed for the dynamic locomotion of a mid- to large-sized machine is prohibitive, even without considering payload.

Considering the mammalian muscle as a reference, direct measurements of muscle function have yielded insight into the versatile way muscles operate. It has been discovered that muscles act as motors, brakes, springs, dampers and struts [24]. The multifunctionality of natural muscle distinguishes it from any human-made actuator and it may hold the key to the success of legged locomotion. In many biological tissues it is hard to distinguish between material and structure. The use of viscoelastic materials can give the robot the spring-mass energy-cycling capacities of legged-animal locomotion, which also reduces the computational complexity of the control. Viscoelastic materials greatly simplify the mechanics of the robot, serving simultaneously as shock absorbers, springs and complete joints.

The spring-mass energy-cycling capabilities can play a key role in the dynamic locomotion of a legged vehicle. Kinetic energy can only be put into the system when the foot is on the ground. It is necessary to keep the mechanical energy in the system by using internal energy storage, that is, compliant actuation. Moreover, the leg is a mechanical oscillator, and it is energetically expensive to drive it at a frequency significantly different to its natural frequency [20]. Any means to modify the natural frequency on the leg would help to make it oscillate at different frequencies with optimal energy expenditure. Thus, inherent adaptable compliance is required [25]. Therefore, to efficiently run a dynamic legged vehicle, high power-density high force-density fast actuators with adaptable compliance are required. Added to this, energetic autonomy is expected. It is evident that these requirements are not met together by conventional technology [26].

HADE is a long-term project [8] aimed at designing energy efficient, large power-to-weight ratio actuators and energy-efficient-locomotion control schemes for the new generation of legged robots following natural muscle multifunctionality. This multifunctionality is approached by means of merging different technologies (smart materials and conventional technologies) in order to extract the best properties of each one. Some prototypes have already been tested and characterized [27].

This paper presents the development of a biomimetic model of a leg for agile locomotion of quadruped robots. The key principles underlying the superior capabilities of strength, speed, agility and endurance of cursorial mammals, like horses, are analyzed in Section 2 and transferred to technological instantiations in Section 3, where a model of a biomimetic leg for agile locomotion is presented. The proposed concept has been implemented on a real prototype. Section 4 describes the leg design, actuation system and sensorial system. Section 5 describes how variable compliance is achieved at the joints of the leg. Experimental analysis of the leg performance to achieve agile locomotion is analyzed in Section 6, and finally Section 7 presents a discussion on the technological barriers that have been encountered in the technological instantiation of the biomimetic leg model and concludes with some proposals.

2. Biological Inspiration for Empowering Robot Legs

As stated above, a quadruped is considered to perform in agile locomotion when it is able to achieve dimensionless speeds up to 0.54 while carrying a payload at least equal to its own weight. In order to design a leg mechanism able to provide the robot with those features, nature is the best source for inspiration. Horse legs are adapted to provide speed, endurance, agility and strength superior to any other animal of equal size [28]. This adaptation is based on longer legs than similar quadrupeds relative to the body size, which provide longer stride lengths. The length of the horse leg is optimal for running, longer legs would probably be difficult to oscillate (giraffes are not able to trot). The cause for the horse relatively long legs is the evolution of the anatomical foot and toe. Horses feet have undergone extensive modification which have enabled these animals to become powerful runners. The most conspicuous change is the reduction of the number of digits: they have retained only one single functional digit. This digit corresponds to the third toe in humans (see Figure 2) and it is able to withstand forces largely superior to those supported by multi-digit toes. Besides, the metatarsal has been so lengthened that it seems more part of the leg than the foot; human metatarsals are located in the arch as shown in Figure 2. Unlike true leg bones, however, it is not directly powered by muscles. Instead, the metatarsal employs spring-like forces from massive ligaments.

The horse rear legs are relatively lightweight, yet strong enough to deliver very large thrusts and to sustain tremendously heavy loads. Again, the leg has evolved to optimize the use of its joints for load bearing. The horse hip joint is mainly a hinge to turn the thigh forward and backward. The abduction/adduction movement is practically negligible [28,29]. Similarly, knee, ankle and fetlock joints (the joint between toe and metatarsal) are 1 DoF joints. Thus, all the muscles and tendons focus their effort in simple joint motions. And all this with enough economy of effort to provide endurance, which is achieved by means of elastic energy storage in tendons during certain phases of the locomotion cycle and the later return of this energy to the more exigent phases.

In the process of copying from nature a desired system performance, one has to be careful in what issues must be extracted and translated to a technological design. The job of the biomimeticist is to identify those elements responsible for producing the desired characteristics on biological systems and to extract the key principles underlying their biological function and then translate them to a technological instantiation that is limited by its own human engineering [30]. One cannot simply copy nature, but rather carefully extract concepts at the level of description that are technically possible to implement. Otherwise, the result of a direct copy would yield a sub-optimal approximation to the desired performance.

When designing powerful robot legs, the engineer could decide to extract the desired characteristics of horse legs which are their superior speed, endurance, agility and strength. In order to translate these characteristics to artificial quadruped legs, the key elements that should be copied have been summarized in Table 2 and enumerated as follows:

Table 2. Key elements and their influence on desired characteristics of horse legs.

Effective leg length directly affects speed and endurance. Longer effective leg length improves stride length and consequently leg speed, while longer legs reduce the energetic cost of transport. The average effective leg length of horses is 1.24 m [31] and it represents the 60% of the horizontal horse length from nose to tail [32].

Mass distribution along the leg determines the natural frequency of leg movement and therefore affects speed. It was demonstrated that high speed runner breeds of horses have greater mass located near the hip joint than other breeds. Concretely the 80%–90% of leg mass is located in the thigh in runners. This feature favors a high natural frequency of leg movement and facilitates a higher stride frequency [33]. Added to this, the leg mass relative to body mass influences agility of motion. This ratio is between 5% to 8% in horses.

Leg kinematics influences gait energetics and endurance. Movements in the equine limbs occur predominantly in the sagittal plane, which is energetically advantageous in cursorial species [29]. Besides, the use of 1-DOF joints optimize the use of its joints for load bearing, thus improving the structural strength of the animal.

Elastic energy storage in tendons provides agility and elastic energy storage, reducing the power requirements at muscles for the more energetic exigent motions and improving endurance [34]. The inherent stiffness of tendons also affects the limb natural frequency, which determines the duration of the support phase [35] and consequently influences leg speed.

Muscle power capacity directly determines joint speed and limb strength.

Taking into consideration these key elements and their role in agile locomotion, a conceptual model of a leg for an agile quadruped has been outlined and its performance has been simulated. This is detailed in the next section.

3. Deriving the Biomimetic Leg Concept

The above principles underlying horse power capabilities have been extracted and translated to technological implementation. Firstly, a leg concept which encompasses the key elements has been designed and afterwards, its performance has been analyzed through dynamic simulation.

3.1. Effective Leg Length

Taking into consideration that building a quadruped with the size of a horse would be difficult to handle in the laboratory, scaling of the leg length making sure that the effective leg length is the 60% of the body size would comply with the specifications. For a trade-off between reproducing horses dimensions and having a reliable prototype, a scaling factor of 65% has been applied to the design, therefore a robot length of 1.2 m was considered, having an effective leg length of 0.8 m.

3.2. Leg Kinematics

The complexity of controlling a planar 4-DoF redundant kinematic chain added to the cost of electronics and actuators and the direct consequence of increasing leg mass as the number of degrees of freedom increases make unfeasible the development of an exact horse-like leg. However, the election of redundant kinematics favors reducing joint torques and thus actuator requirements and power consumption. A possible solution is to use passive elastic elements to drive one or more joints, however, the analysis of joint power requirements for a slow trot (see Section 3.4) advises against purely passive actuation. As a trade-off, a planar 3-DoF leg has been outlined composed of three links: thigh, crus and hoof, connected through 1-DoF joints: the hip, knee and fetlock joints. The lengths of thigh, crus and hoof are proportional to real horse leg’s plus a scaling factor to reach the desired effective leg length, taking into consideration that the use of a 3-DoF model of leg shortens the total leg length in a 34% compared to a horse leg. The 35% reduction in effective leg length plus the increase of 34% in limb length results in a final 1% decrease in each leg link length. Table 3 lists the final link lengths.

Elena Garcia ★, Juan Carlos Arevalo, Gustavo Muñoz and Pablo Gonzalez-de-Santos

Centre for Automation and Robotics, CSIC-UPM, La Poveda 28500, Madrid, Spain

★

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; Tel.: +34-91-871-1900; Fax: +34-91-871-7050.

Received: 3 November 2011; in revised form: 24 November 2011 / Accepted: 24 November 2011 / Published: 28 November 2011

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Public impression of an innovative stair-climbing power wheelchair: A pilot survey

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Public impression of an innovative stair-climbing power wheelchair: A pilot survey

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Background and purpose: Accessibility has always been challenging to the policy maker and the disabled alike, in both developing and developed countries, especially with the global problem of an aging population. Wheelchairs are only for smooth terrains. The Hong Kong Science & Technology Parks, funded by the HKSAR, has recognized the need of an innovative stair-climbing power wheelchair to meet such challenge and has provided financial and advanced technological support for the research and development of a smart stair-climbing wheelchair locally in Hong Kong. The purpose of this pilot study is to survey the need for and the possible effect of this stair-climbing wheelchair on people with walking disability.

Methods: A questionnaire of 11 questions (with 9 Yes/No questions and 2 open-ended questions to fill in the blanks) was given to participants who attended Rehab Power Day 2014 and saw the demonstration and personally experienced as a user riding the wheelchair up and down a staircase with irregular inclinations. Participants filled out and returned the questionnaires onsite.

Results: A total of 24 questionnaires were collected with most questions answered. More than 90% Yes were selected from the 9 Yes/No questions, indicating that participants saw the need of and liked to have and use this stair-climbing wheelchair and felt that they could be more independent and that the quality of living for people with walking disability could be improved.

Conclusion: This pilot survey strongly suggests the need of the all-terrain stair-climbing power wheelchair and that it may have positive physical and psychological effect on people with walking disability.

Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Hong Kong Physiotherapy Journal

Volume 33, Issue 2, December 2015, Pages 99-100