Ubiquitous Computing Enabled Design

This project explores novel, intelligent models of design engineering processes that utilise real-time sensor based information and Ubiquitous Computing (ubicomp) technologies to promote stakeholder collaboration, and embed life cycle knowledge throughout sustainable engineering design processes. With this initial step our vision is to explore the future possibilities for harnessing emerging technologies through this research, to empower designers to be more responsive to changing environmental, economic and social demands, and ultimately develop more 'meaningful' products. This multi-disciplinary project will therefore bring together researchers in sustainable design engineering and interactive technologies, to propose new Ubicomp Enabled Design (UED) process archetypes and design tools, which will encourage holistic development of intelligent, sustainable patterns of production and consumption.

Design is a key enabler for innovation and sustainability, and has been widely shown to not only improve creativity, revenue, and competitiveness but also to strategically boosting the skills and knowledge of a company. Engineering design processes however are becoming increasingly complex, as designers have to juggle consideration of a rising number of factors throughout design, such as technical factors (e.g. incorporating new materials and technologies), economic factors (e.g. driving down product costs) environmental factors (e.g. reducing resource demand) and social factors (e.g. increasing usability and customisation). It is therefore critical to help support designers to make smarter and more informed decisions, and as such, a large amount of research effort has been directed at developing methods to support engineering. This has included frameworks for knowledge management, novel computer aided design approaches, and a wide variety of dedicated design tools and methods. In this context, this research proposes that recent socio-technological advances (driven by emerging areas such as big data and internet of things), present a unique and unprecedented opportunity to help support design engineering - to find new ways to help get the right information, in front of the right people, at the right time.

This research therefore seeks to understand how ubicomp technologies can be harnessed within the design process to enable more informed, more responsive, and more effective engineering design. The principle outcomes of this crosscutting feasibility project will be a series of holistic reference models for UED processes, and the definition of a future programme of research in this area towards incorporating socio-technological advances into engineering design.

To achieve this, the project will bring together expertise in sustainable design engineering from Loughborough University and in interactive technologies from the University of Nottingham. The design process models developed in this research will be showcased and demonstrated through a series of 'design and manufacturing futures' - or scenarios that will illustrate possible futures for different consumer products in three sectors of Personal Care, Drug Delivery, and Internet-of-Things Enabled Devices. These scenarios will be supported by technology demonstrators (prototype cloud enabled products), and design toolkits (conceptual engineering decision support tools) that will be developed to show how UED processes could be applied in practice. These scenarios will target to demonstrate the potential of UED in these diverse and prominent sectors of UK manufacturing - from both the business and consumer point of view.

This project has the potential for global, cross-sectorial impact on the way that companies manage their design processes, engage with their customers, and respond to the incorporation of new knowledge within their activities. The Ubicomp Enabled Design (UED) processes, methods and tools developed in this research could therefore be a key disruptive enabler for moving towards businesses that are more sustainable, more responsive and closer to customers; opening up new market and product opportunities.

In the immediate future, this research will primarily help the project partners involved in contributing to the Advisory Group and developing the case studies. Through direct involvement they will be able to not only steer the work, but will gain an insight into the opportunities for the future of more responsive UED processes. In addition they will have access to simple methods to improve their own design processes and gain an improved understanding of their customers. Finally, they will also have the prospect to become involved in proposal development for future research and enterprise projects.
In addition to identifying the potential for new cloud enabled products and UED tools, this project will as a result identify ways to quickly promote skills development of designers, as well as business competitiveness in the face of increasing uncertainty. The outputs will therefore also help a wider network of companies in a similar way, and to this end we will engage a broad network of key industrial stakeholders, SMEs and start-ups through dissemination activities such as the website and futures event.

Many companies however only undertake 'sustainable' design improvement activities such as these, because either legislation requires them to, or the customer demands it. Therefore it is important to also disseminate the project findings to policy makers and the general public (consumers).
To this end, the findings of this project will be particularly interesting to organisations such as the Design Council, the All-Party Parliamentary Design and Innovation Group, and the Behavioural Insights Team, who advocate that design improvements will be key in realising more effective design of future products and services, and that this will be central to the future competitiveness and sustainability of the UK economy. This project therefore directly addresses their recommendations by being a key enabler of co-design methods and new holistic business models for improving systems of production and consumption, as well as consumer behaviours.

With respect to the general public, it is becoming clear that relationships between consumers and companies are changing. Through socio-technological advances and the proliferation of social media, the role of marketing has seen a dramatic shift towards customer engagement and relationship building (in contrast to more traditional 'push' marketing designed to promote make-sell business models). This in turn has created a more informed customer base that increasingly desire tailored products and services to meet their needs. Engineering design processes will therefore need to develop and change to support this increasing customer focus within future business models. This project seeks to harness these socio-technological advances, to equip design engineers with the information they need to conduct user inspired design, and promote pragmatic and informed decision making. To this end, a series of future design scenarios will be developed that will showcase the potential for UED, using case studies of simple everyday products. Through this it is hoped to raise awareness and empower consumers to make more informed decisions, and in particular to illustrate that they have some control over selecting more responsible companies and products. In the long term, the tools developed in this research will also help consumers to receive products and solutions that address and respond to their needs.