ArcoBEAT

Overview

In this project, we designed a new functionality for ArcoBEAT, a portable device for reading, storing, and sending data relating to emptying the waste bins. The new functionality enables the operators to quickly and easily report issues that could occur during waste collection. Using the design sprint framework, we identified the problems, developed ideas of solutions with design thinking techniques, designed interactive prototypes, and finally carried out tests with specially selected users.

My Role: User research, video creation, prototyping, presentation

Tools: Miro, Figma

Timeline: Monday 14 to Friday 18 February 2022

Deliverables: Interactive Figma prototype, video prototype, Research findings

Team: Sevda AbdollahiNami, Melanie Valer, Emma Bombiero, Chiara Gulino, Idil OzDemir, and Paolo Massa (Mentor)

Project Outline

Design Sprint Framework

To solve this challenge, we used the design sprint framework. We began with a broad problem and worked on it to produce a high-fidelity prototype that was tested with real users at the end of the week. Since we had to present our solution on the fifth day, we did the ideation and decision steps in one day.

Map The Problem

Understand the Company and the Product

The Company:

Sartori Ambiente develops products and technological solutions to support the door-to-door collection of municipal waste. They use the approach of pay as you throw, a system for waste collection in which households are charged according to the amount of refuse they leave.

The Device:

ArcoBEAT is one of the devices that Sartori Ambiente has developed. Using this device, the company can emit the bills the different customers will have to pay.

It is a wearable device that can be put on the wrist;
It has an RFID tag reader;
It has a monochrome, non-touch display with 128x128 resolution (26.86 x 26.86 mm);
It has five physical buttons to interact with it.

Using the device is usually very simple:

The operator first presses the middle button to turn on the UHF reader.
Then he brings the reader closer to the tag.
He then empties the bin and deactivates the UHF reader by pressing the RFID button.

The following video demonstrates how it is used by operators:

But, some problems may occur while collecting the waste that must be addressed. For example, a waste bin could be broken and unable to be emptied, or it could be dirty and need to be cleaned. People could also leave trash outside the waste bins or in another part of the city that needs to be cleaned up.

According to the law, the company (Sartori Ambiente) has to solve these problems in a few days. Otherwise, the company cannot send customers' invoices and lose money. In some cases, the company will be fined by the municipality. So, to avoid conflict and keep the city clean, Sartori Ambiente must immediately identify and resolve any issues. The company wants the operators to report these problems with existing devices, including ArcoBEAT. Therefore ArcoBEAT needs a new function to allow operators to report any issues.

The Challenge

How operators can easily report a problem with Arcobeat in a few seconds

So the workflow of the ArcoBEAT should be redesigned in a way that the operators can go out of the standard workflow and report a problem with the new functionality in a few seconds; considering all the limitations:

ArcoBEAT has a small, non-touch, black and white screen that only works with five physical buttons;
The operators might be old or have low vision, and they work in difficult situations: on sunny, rainy, or snowy days, with dirty gloves;
The problems that must be reported are too many (28 problems).

Ideation and Decision

After deeply understanding the problem, we explored potential solutions through ideation as the second step. First, each of us began sketching possible solutions individually. After completing our sketches, we put them on the miro board to present our ideas to other team members.

We evaluated the team's proposals to see which ones had the best chance of succeeding. We came up with two solutions and drew the user workflow based on that.

[UX Challenge 22] Team 6.2_regular - Frame 1 (1).jpg

Solution 1

The first solution is very straightforward: place the list of problems in the ArcoBeat, let the operator choose, and report it. But instead of putting the long list of problems in the device, we categorized them, used big icons for the main categories, and summarized the subcategories in short text with a big font. The video below demonstrates the first solution:

Solution 2

The second solution is a little bit more out of the box. And it is placing things in the real world, not in the virtual world experienced by low vision operators through the small screen of ArcoBeat. Instead of going throw the problem list within the small screen of ArcoBEAT, we put a list of problems in a physical metal card that can be installed on the waste track. Anytime a problem needs to be reported, the operator can simply scan the problem code from the list.
When using ArcoBEAT, operators might have to go back and forth through menus several times to find the correct one, wasting their valuable seconds and the willingness to report cases. However, with this solution, the large text and icon tags on the truck's side serve as a constant reminder for reportable cases as well as a visible manual for operators. The video below demonstrates the second solution:

Prototype

Based on the user workflow that we have designed, I constructed an interactive prototype in Figma, which is available here. In this way, we could test our solution with the users.

User testing

Before testing the prototypes, we did an interview with the president of the technical division of Sartori, which helped us test the idea early. After developing the prototypes, we tested them with four users to understand how our solutions are perceived by the users. To make the situation more realistic, we asked our users to use their mobile phones and put them on their wrists.

Objectives of the test:

Check whether what the icons represent is clear to the user
Check whether the problem definitions are clear to the user
Check the feasibility of the tag list solution for every single problem the operator may encounter during his working day

All the testers preferred the first solution, expressing that icons allow them to quickly and easily understand which problem they need to report. It was observed by us and expressed by the users that some minor modifications needed to be done to report the problems regarding the use of the buttons.

We realized that our second solution might not work for these reasons:
If the operator has to leave the truck far away, then he has to go back to scan the tag on the truck;
If the operator makes a mistake in scanning, then it becomes complicated to go back;
Since the operator works at night, it might be complicated to read the tags on the truck if you park on a dark street.

Even though the testers did not prefer the second solution, we believe it needs to be tested in the real world with real users. We have to consider that it was difficult for testers (who were not real operators) to really imagine how the task would be in the physical world. So for future work, we asked SartoriAmbiente to go into the streets with one of their operators and test the physical solutions in the environment.

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