1. Tracking People: Design Considerations
Dr Raymond Holt
Institute of Design, Robotics and Optimisation
School of Mechanical Engineering

2. Structure Who I am and What do I do?
Challenges in Designing Complex (Tracking) Systems:
Specialisation
Collingridge’s Dilemma
Bounded Rationality
Tools that might help(?):
User-Centred Design
Sociotechnical Systems Analysis
Critical Design

3. Who am I? BEng (hons) Mechanical Engineering
PhD Mechanical Engineering
Lecturer in Product Design
Chartered Engineer
Research:
Rehabilitation Robotics
Engineering Design and Ergonomics
Measuring Motor Capabilities and Task Demands

4. I don’t work alone… Psychologists Sociologists Engineers Clinicians
Mark Mon-Williams
Angharad Beckett
Rachel Coats
Geoff Bingham
Engineers
Clinicians
Who I work with
Brian Henson
Martin Levesley
Pete Culmer
Rory O’Connor

5. Rehab Robotics
Research upper limb impairments, particularly due to CP or stroke
Particularly how we can improve upper limb function through power-assisted movement
We specialise in “Robots for the Field”: deploying outside the lab.
MyPAM
iPAM

6. Engineering Design
Interested in how conditions combine with environmental factors to enable or disable activities of daily living...
...And how we can design objects/the environment for ease of use.
Also assessing fitness for purpose of AT and rehab devices – ensuring user needs are kept in focus.
Together Through Play

7. Measuring Motor Skills
We need measures of motor skills for:
Rehab: Diagnosis and progress monitoring – current tools very blunt
Design: To assess the usability and inclusivity of designs – linking capabilities to task demands.
Postural Sway Assessment Tool Finger Force Measures

8. Where’s the Tracking?
Monitoring of individual progress with rehab – feedback, and informing clinicians
Gathering large datasets on children’s capabilities
Designing effective devices – we want these things used!

9. Challenges in Designing Complex (Tracking) Systems

10. (We control everything inside this)
Designing Systems
All the World’s A System… And So is Everything In It.
GPS Satellites
Mobile Network
Data Management
Organisational
Response
Tracking Device
GPS Unit
Microcontroller
Battery
Casing
Interface
Wearer
Unwilling?
System
Boundary
(We control everything inside this)
Stigma?
Family/ Friends
Wider
Society

11. Designing Systems
The V-Model of Systems Engineering

12. Designing Systems Changes get harder as development progresses
Proportion of Total Cost
100%
% Costs Established
% Costs Incurred
Stage of Development

13. Designing Systems Challenges:
Specialisation - most engineers don’t have the full picture.
Collingridge’s Dilemma - by the time we know what the risks are, changes are difficult.
Bounded Rationality – it’s hard to hold keep your attention on everything.

14. Solutions for Designing Complex (Tracking) Systems
Some potential
Solutions for Designing Complex (Tracking) Systems

15. User-Centered Design Identify Need Specify Context of Use
Evaluate Designs
Satisfactory Design
Specify Requirements
Generate Designs
After ISO : Erogonomics of Human-System Interaction

16. Sociotechnical Systems
The Sociotechnical Framework (Clegg and Challenger, 2011)
Goals
People
Processes/
Procedures
Infrastructure
Culture
Technology
Challenger R.&. Clegg CW (2011) Crowd disasters: a socio-technical systems perspective Contemporary Social Science 6(3)

17. Sociotechnical Systems
The Sociotechnical Framework (Clegg and Challenger, 2011)
Identify Location;
Alert caregiver if outside a given range
Person
Family
Staff
Goals
People
GPS network
Mobile Network
Cloud Storage
Processes/
Procedures
Infrastructure
Maintenance
Battery charging
Data management
Complaints
Legal Framework
GPS
Worn wristband
Culture
Technology
Stigma

18. Critical Design

19. Structure Who I am and What do I do?
Challenges in Designing Complex (Tracking) Systems:
Specialisation
Collingridge’s Dilemma
Bounded Rationality
Tools that might help(?):
User-Centred Design
Sociotechnical Systems Analysis
Critical Design