Configuring an “animated Work Environment”: a User-centered Design Approach

The dramatic shift in the nature, place and organization of working life, as well as the sophistication of information technologies employed in work, have prompted a transdisciplinary team to develop an intelligent environment supporting increasingly digital lifestyles. This “Animated Work Environment” (AWE) is envisioned less as a design product and more as the locus of interaction between people, software, information, machines, furniture, and other physical surroundings. In realizing this vision, the team (representing architecture, robotics, human factors and sociology) employed a user-centered design approach to designing, prototyping, demonstrating and evaluating AWE. This paper presents, for the first time, findings from surveys and task analyses of workers employing digital technologies, and traces how these findings informed the design of six physical configurations and other aspects of the AWE robot-architecture prototype. Also presented is a reflection on the benefits and challenges of iterative, trans-disciplinary design approaches to complex systems supporting human activity. Following from a collaborative research approach which includes careful analyses of users’ want and needs, AWE promises to better cultivate rich, engaged and connected lifestyles in an increasingly digital world.