Data

Data collection can be very useful in improving the product and the customer experience after the product is on the market. However, as our stakeholders are large international companies and universities, privacy and security are our number one concern. For this reason, limited data will be collected from the users that respect the sensitive information about the company.

Data Collected	Method	Representation	How can it optimise the product/service?
Location of users	Hololens location data	Heat map	Room layout optimization
Direct customer feedback	Likert scale and open text questionnaire	Pie charts and bar graphs	Feedback loop to constantly improve the product.
How customers use hardware and software	Software use data	Pie charts and bar graphs	Prioritise features in the UI to create a better user experience. Determine which functions are more popular. Data will be used to prioritise new feature rollouts and hierarchize functions.
How users discovered business	Questionnaire	Bar graph	Helps steer the marketing team.
Location	Questionnaire	Bar graph	Determine whether this can be mitigated.

All data can be further graphed variables like time of day/usage time/age/role/other demographics to find correlations.

Instruction Design

A great user manual is define when the manual educates people about a product while also teaching them how to use the product in a efficient way. The author of the instruction manual has the ultimate goal to make the manual as comprehensive as possible. The user must find it easy to read, reference and also absorb information from.

The user manual in our case, for our PSS must be self-evident. At the beginning of the installation of the pre-fab office an employee is provided who installs the office at your prefererred place. He will make sure that the rest of the set up that stays open for the customer is easy to handle. The hololens itsself will take you through the process step by step. Just put on the hololens and follow the instruction manual in microsoft dynamics 365 to understand the idea and the way of working in our pre-fab office.

3D Visualisation

This tools aimed to showcase 3D models and renders in a nice way. In essence that is also what our product aims to do. In order to achieve this we used the knowledge of Unity gained in this tool to create a 3D visualization tool for the Hololens which is also the prototype of the project. With this program you can view CAD models or renders with the Hololens in AR. You can pick-up and resize the models with your hands. No environment modeling was needed because we use the real world. This also has overlap with the tool VR and Advanced interaction.

Website development

The expertise website development was used for building the website that serves as the digital explanation. This website is built entirely using HTML and CSS using a bootstrap plugin. Instead of writing a digital version of a report featuring analysis, requirements, concept development and a conclusion, we set ourselves the challenge to build a promotional website. The website is similar to a kickstarter page featuring all the information necessary to (hopefully) convince potential investors.

Expert meeting

For our project we went in an entire different direction than most of our colleagues. Instead of B2C we went for B2B, and instead of using a physical product and trying to sell it we tried to make an entirely new technology. Besides this being exciting it also brought its problems and concerns. Luckily we could address these concerns with Experts.

We mainly made use of Experts in the field of AR technology and 3D Visualisation. We did this to gain more knowledge about set fields and to try to understand the underlying technology and look at the possibilities. This resulted in us having the most meetings with Roy Damgrave and Eric Lutters. They pointed us to work that’s already been done in the field, and research that had been conducted. With this information we made 3 concepts, all in totally different directions. And then, with the information from the papers and our own information, we made the decision to go with the AR concept. After this we again went to the Experts to look at our possibilities and try out the technology again.

With this knowledge we gained different insights on the possibilities, without these insights ARea 1 wouldn’t be as it is today.

VR and Advanced interaction

This tool was focusses on product interaction or testing in virtual reality. Our product aims to improve this experience so it uses this tool quite extensively. The knowledge and theory of augmented reality interaction was used to create our product. Also a prototype was made in Unity for the Hololens. This prototype allows to user to interact with an interface and view models.

Collaborative design challenges

During the tool of Collaborative Design Challenges we focused on the comparative dimensions that were discussed during the tool. I would like to reflect on our project and discus how I can apply this expertise by focusing on the following sections: solution complexity, team size, distribution, suppliers, technology, TRL Range, multidisciplinarity,stakeholders. The solution complexity is an complicated system because our product consists of modular modules combined as one product. For example all the elements to built the pre-fab office, the HoloLens’s + software for specific kind of meetings with the HoloLens’s and finally also services around the PSS like maintenance and installation. The team size of our PSS system is rather small because we do not need that many employees to maintain the system. We need several experts who keep the system up to date and some people who are informed about how to install and maintain the system. The distribution for our PSS is globally. We transport our service all around the world because we want to make it possible for internationals to communicate with each other via this modular office. The suppliers are specialized in our equipment. The pre-fab office ARea is designed in such a way that we will need specific materials and components to complete the office. For example the wall are made out of electrochromic glass, this glass is will change its color depending on the amount of electricity that runs through it. So the glass will create a private office room if this is in favor and can serve as a projection wall to project holograms with your HoloLens. The Technology is super high tech, the newest technology is applied. The TRL Range is in the final stage; Extensive implementation. The concept is already fully worked out and ready to bring to the market. We created a multi technical and non-technical disciplinarian PSS. This because we focus on a lot of technical aspects for example specializing in the way CAD (Computer Aided Design) models are presented in 3D holograms. We want the highest resolution in this case for the CAD models so this focusses on the multi technical aspects. On the other hand we also want to focus on the non-technical aspects because we want to communicate on a high level. For example the hand gestures are visual because the holograms project this for you in the virtual office space. This makes a lot of difference in communication because body language has a high addition to the level of communication. Finally stakeholders, we consider these to be internal and several external. Because we are international and we have employees in different locations around the world.

Entrepreneurship

For ARea the CSFs are clearly defined in the AR technology combination with the room, table and the system. This gives our company an unique advantage over the competition. because of this our company automatically follows the differentiation strategy

Our Customers are companies who need to collaborate with others from a distance, this can vary from big international companies to national companies. Usually these companies are wealthy.

With our product they will be able to reduce the pains of working on a distance, as well as the travel costs

The trend in AR technology has been growing fast the last few years, because of this our product can be one of the solutions that integrates the technology in a useful and easy matter for the first time. If we are able to do this, the growth is likely to continue.

The business ARea is extremely competitive and hard to enter as you need a big starting capital. However this also reduces the threat of new entry. The problem (especially if the company works well) is that one of our suppliers is Microsoft. They supply our Hololenses. This can lead to problems down the road as they are also (partially) our competitors.

To test our prototype we made (several) MVP’s, one for the AR menu and a prototype where a user can experience our AR space. with this we can get feedback to evaluate and improve our product

Maintenance

The expertise maintenance was not very useful for us in this particular project. Due to the fact that the ways to enhance maintainability, reliability and supportability given during the tool, require changes made to the product at a more detailed level then attained during this project. However, it was never the intention to work out the physical product to such an extent, as the primary goal was to work out the PSS as well as the software and interface used in our product. For these parts the intention is to release regular updates to maintain the quality and reliability of the product.

In our PSS, other established products are used as well such as the HoloLens. For these products it is impossible to apply the guidelines from this expertise, since they have already been applied by the original company and we do not intend to alter these products.

UI design and simulation

User interface design is one of the expertises we used most in this project. Both the touch table and the hololens feature a user interface.

For the touch table, the main challenge was to design an interface that can be used from four different sides. Conventionally, interfaces always have a top side and a bottom side. However, when users have to be able to interact with the table from all sides, it is not possible to have a distinct orientation. We came up with a solution featuring multiple possible screen modes, all with different purposes.

For the hololens interface, we created an actual prototype to be able to demonstrate the functions of our product. The prototype was created using Figma and features some fundamental menus and interactions for the Hololens interface.

End of life

Production

Optimised shape for less waste in mass manufacture. Square table and geometric elements to tessellate.

FAll materials used for the room will be made to last. A longer product life: this results in less issues for the customer and less waste for the environment. It also suits the product service system business model because it is a pay per use rather than a product that is bought. So no need to plan for obsolescence. or the touch table, the main challenge was to design an interface that can be used from four different sides. Conventionally, interfaces always have a top side and a bottom side. However, when users have to be able to interact with the table from all sides, it is not possible to have a distinct orientation. We came up with a solution featuring multiple possible screen modes, all with different purposes.

Distribution

Packaging should use as little material and variety in material as possible. The materials should separate easily. It should also be designed to be space efficient to reduce transport costs and CO2.

Transport

The room and all components to be built at the consumer company. This makes transportation more efficient. Less transport cost to the company and less pollution.

Maintenance

Regular maintenance and repair of the table to increase life. If it is beyond repair, the table will be replaced. When improved technology/functionality is available the table will also be replaced.

The table that is replaced will be cleaned, refurbished, reassembled and tested. Then it can be put back on the market and used in another room.

Any parts that are not useful anymore will be disassembled and separated to collect the materials.

• Separated materials can go back into the process of making tables
• If not possible the materials can be sold

To make it more circular, the table will be constructed to improve disassembly and recycling

• For disassembly. Have minimal and more simple connections/adhesives to make it easier to both separate and easier to take apart and repair. Table will use identical parts and easily recognisable connections so disassembly is simple.
• For recycling. Use of as little variety of materials. And easily separable materials. The materials used will be recyclable where possible.