Briefing

into things :: living with a bot 

designing an emotional relationship

In 2030, home equipped with different forms of bots might become the norm. Given the advantage of AI and machine learning, how would the relationship between humans and bot evolve? What are the alternative narratives of the co-existence or even symbiotic relationship in our future home?

Introduction

AI

The impact of artificial intelligence (AI) to the homes and personal lives of people can be observed in most branches of consumer electronics today: Voice-activated assistants featuring AI, like Alexa or Google Home, reach a wide range of customers, nearly everyone knows Spotify’s suggestions for personalized playlists, and the number of personal devices using AI is increasing massively. 

This is changing the way of how people do interact with their devices. In most cases, the user does interact with the AI through voice but does not have the ability to view its working principles or influence its character directly.

Sleep

Sleep is crucial for our mental and physical restoration, information processing and our long-term health. Contrary to that, the amount of sleep people get has been decreasing for years. In addition many people have bad sleed habits like snoozing, variing sleep and wakeup times and the use of electronic devices before bed.

User Research

In the iterative design process, we used the diary method to get insights into the sleep behavior of various demographic groups. Based on that data we developed a user journey and an empathy map to find out the key points of users in the process of sleeping from going to sleep to waking up.

Diary Study

To gather insight about sleep behaviour and habits before going to sleep/after waking up, a diary study was conducted. The group of participants consisted of 21 people with various sociodemographic backgrounds. Over the course of one week, they were given the same five questions about their habits and sleep behaviour every day via a WhatsApp text message at the same time in the morning. The usage of text messages enabled the possibility to get direct feedback from the participants after they woke up while keeping the effort simple and personal enough to get deep insights on their sleep behaviour.

User Journey

Research Question

How can an AI companion be embodied, so that it communicates its character through shape, the tactility of its surface, its behaviour in movement and feedback through light and sound with the possibility of user interaction?

Concept

Sleep Mate is an emotional companion designed to help people to find their optimal sleep rhythm and behaviour. It communicates its character through shape, the tactility of its surface, its behaviour in movement and feedback through light and sound. It is backed by an AI concept giving context and an overview of the data flow for the scenario of waking up and going to sleep.

AI Concept

SleepMate acquires the user‘s fitness, social, productivity, calendar, health, and sleep data, as well as data about the usage of technical devices. Additionally, external databases are used as a reference. The AI then generates personalized recommendations for going to sleep, the duration of sleep and waking up, which are improved by continuous machine learning.

AI Character Influence

Users can participate in the complex decision making of the AI by exchanging the top part of the SleepMate. Depending on the chosen cap the different character traits of the AI are shifted in a specific direction which significantly affects the way in which SleepMate works, for example waking you up.

Design Concept

SleepMate‘s design is strictly reduced to focus on the different embodied caps and their influence on the AI. By using wood as the material for the base it gets a warm and familiar appearance. In contrast the caps are made of a white synthetic material which visualizes the AI but also gives a nice and soft touch. Through the use of light, movement and sound SleepMate gets a vivid and lively appereance and character.