13. Fluidtime service prototypes 1Torino public transport 2Interaction Ivrea laundry service

14. Torino public transport By providing constant information to people wherever and whenever they need it, and by bringing the information into their ambient environment, the Fluidtime service allows people to monitor the flow of their buses in simple and convenient ways. Fluidtime not only supports those who like to plan and want to compare different route possibilities, but also gives those less inclined to plan more possibilities to seize the moment.

15. Enrico “When I was a student I didn’t worry much about time. But since I started working, time has become very precious…So, saving time with this application is something that I appreciate very much.”

16. Maria - “It was very stressful for me to have to watch to see if a bus was coming; I prefer to look at the display….I like it, it’s nice and funny. I have learned to regulate my walking speed according to the information that is displayed on the watch-phone.”

17. Martha “I’m a punctual person and I hate ‘tempi morti’: I tend to fill them all the time. Fluidtime is a good support for this, especially when I’m at work. I can look at my phone and, if I see that a bus is arriving, I leave right away; otherwise, instead of waiting at the stop, I do something else before leaving.”

18. Fabio “I can’t be punctual; it’s not in my nature and even Fluidtime could never help me. What I like is the interface; it’s really nice and entertaining, like a videogame. The best situation to use it is late at night, when there are few buses and waiting at the stop is very boring.”

19. Interaction Ivrea laundry service Fluidtime supports people without binding them to a fixed schedule. It performs simple tasks, such as reminding users in the morning to bring their laundry to the Institute, or letting them know when their laundry slot is ready or their washing is done. Since the system knows the users’ profiles and how busy the day is, it can adjust its behaviour from being strict with reminders to being relaxed. Ambient devices allow the laundry users to monitor the progress of the machine and know when it is time to collect the laundry.

20. Marc “It’s annoying to go all the way downstairs just to book a washing slot. My clothes typically wait in a suitcase at my desk for a while before I can find the time, money and a free slot. Being able to book with my mobile phone and get an SMS when it’s finished would be amazing. Being able to release my spot would also be nice, if I knew that I wasn’t going to use it.”

21. Tarun “I usually book last minute and take the slots that are left. It would be useful to know who’s presently using the machine and who’s next…. so you could talk to them and know if you could squeeze in or not. This should be possible even now, but you never know whether people have exchanged their slots and everything gets pretty confused.”

22. Michal “A few times I booked a slot but didn’t use it—mainly in situations where I was extremely busy … Most of these times I went down and erased my name from the schedule.”

23. Ryan “I know about how long the washing takes, but I always forget…You know how many minutes are left, so you can 'synchronize yourself', but if you are as absent minded as I am, you forget.”

24. Fluidtime tools 1Mobile interfaces 2Stationary objects

29. Fluidtime team Antonio Terreno Alberto Lagna Crispin Jones Joanna Barth Laura Polazzi Michael Kieslinger Victor Zambrano William Ngan