Benjamin Fineman work resume bio contact
the final robot form
detail of system diagram
levels of intrusiveness

STUDENT PROJECT
BirdBot

Overview

Tasked with creating a robot to assist in elder care, my partner and I designed a robot pet bird. The bird monitors the elder’s home, answers basic medical and nutrition questions, reminds the elder of important events, and gets help if necessary. BirdBot can also serve as a limited communication channel to the elder’s family or friends.

The bird form of the robot affords speech without the expectation of intelligence. Since birds aren’t expected to have the social graces of people, BirdBot can nag and cajole without seeming rude. BirdBot has several levels of intrusiveness, depending upon the seriousness of the situation.

 

Activities

  • Researched the wants and needs of the elder population. Since this was only a four-week project, we relied mainly on secondary research.
  • Created detailed user profiles and scenarios of use.
  • Designed several iterations of the product concept.
  • Designed several iterations of the product function, form, and interface.

 

Innovation & hot design topics

  • The robot explores issues of anthropomorphism, an especially important consideration with both robots and speech interfaces.
  • Because of our audience, we chose a conversational interface, but the bird form limits the expectation of intelligence.
  • BirdBot’s varying levels of intrusiveness were careful considerations of appropriate levels of attention and interruption.

 

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