Dr. Romi Mikulinsky, Tom Reznikov, Bezalel Academy of Art and Design (IL), Yuri Klebanov, (University of Tokyo) (JP)
Abstract: In January 2020, As part of a collaboration between Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design and the University of Tokyo DLX Design Lab, a 10-days workshop took place. A team of design researchers visited the Institute of Industrial Science and proposed new design-led solutions around issues pertaining to future mobility. The preliminary motivation was to assess the role of the driver in public transportation and to inquire what will happen once the driver is omitted from the vehicle and replaced by a complex robotic system? Given that trust is an important factor in the acceptance of autonomous systems and influences the user behavior (Lee and See, 2004, Garcia 2015) a supportive HMI is essential – especially in the transition phase towards automated driving where the “driver” needs to give up control in favor of an unknown feature (Häuslschmid 2017). The project does not focus on the driver but on the passengers’ response to autonomous public transport. Its significance and novelty lie here.
The unique collaboration between design researchers from Bezalel Academy and Intelligent Mobility researchers from U.Tokyo is aimed at elucidating how design can ease up the implementation of AV’s in cities, answering questions such as: How can designers contribute to dispelling alienation and instill trust in future mobility? Which tools are available to designers that might be useful in creating the language, interaction and know-how needed to implement a transportation system which answers the needs of many diverse users in complex urban environments?
The team focused on what is lost in terms of human interaction with the transition to driverless vehicles and moved on to identifying and developing interactions capable of:
Replacing eye contact
Observing the passengers’ body language, estimate intentions and respond accordingly
Turning uncanny situations into coherent, pleasant experiences
Countering estrangement and fear of the unknown
The outcome is Project Ripple – which hypothesis is that utilizing the vehicle floor as an interface can assist in calibrating trust between the user and the autonomous system. The project demonstrates how the proposed design-led methodologies instill trust in a non-human, autonomous system/agent.
References:
Carsten, O., & Martens, M. H. (2019). How can humans understand their automated cars? HMI principles, problems and solutions. Cognition, Technology & Work, 21(1), 3-20.
Garcia, D., Kreutzer, C., Badillo-Urquiola K & Mouloua. (2015). Measuring trust of Autonomous Vehicles: A development and validation study. Proceedings of HCI International 2015, Part II -Posters’ Extended Abstracts (HCI International 2015), Constantine Stephanidis (Ed.). Springer International Publishing, Cham, 610–615.
Häuslschmid, R., Von Buelow M, Pfleging B. et al. (2017). Supporting trust in autonomous driving. International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, Proceedings IUI, 319-329.
Lee, J. D., & See, K. A. (2004). Trust in automation: designing for appropriate reliance. Human factors, 46(1), 50-80
Short CV: ** Yuri Klebanov Graduated from the Department of Visual Communication at Bezalel in 2011. While working as an Interaction Designer at INNOVID (a startup in Tel-Aviv), as a hobby he was building interactive installations which were presented in festivals around Israel and Europe. In 2016 Yuri graduated from the Royal College of Art and Imperial College London with an MA and MSc in Innovation Design Engineering, after which he worked as a creative developer at Hirsch&Mann, London. Currently, he is a design and technology researcher at the U-Tokyo Institute of Industrial Science DLX Design Lab, focusing on fusion of Design and Science. **Romi Mikulinsky is the head of the Master of Design (MDes) program in Industrial Design and a senior lecturer at the Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem. Her dissertation at the University of Toronto’s English dept. was dedicated to photography, memory, and trauma in literature and film. Dr. Mikulinsky researches and lectures about digital and counter-culture, algorithmic art, as well as design-led innovation. She has worked with various start-up companies and media websites, corporations and municipalities on the implementation of technological innovation across the organization and has international experience in leading design and innovation workshops (Australia, Japan, and in several countries across Europe). She served as the Director of The Shpilman Institute for Photography and worked with various art museums in Israel. **Tom Reznikov is a designer and a creative technologist. Her works were exhibited in exhibitions in Israel and abroad, take various forms but often explore human nature and its relationship with technology. Tom is currently leading the design department at Riskified. Tom holds a B.Ed.Des in Visual Communication from Wizo Design Academy and of the M.Des program in Industrial Design in Bezalel Academy.