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Intel
Research & Design, emerging technologies
The work I did with Intel revolved around finding ways to market for emerging technologies such as drones, the internet of things and autonomous vehicles. I was part of the Open Source Technology Centre, where I collaborated with different start ups and the community of makers to foster Intel’s technology adoption.
This project explores drone technology and how it can be used for large-scale construction monitoring. My work included comprehensive research, market analysis, hands-on drone building, and field studies. We also collaborated with the FK Group at Manchester Stadium, developing a multi-device platform prototype to connect site managers, engineers and drone operators.
Outcome
We found the connection between innovation and construction, validating the project’s hypothesis, demonstrating the potential for drone technology to be used in large-scale site monitoring, improving safety and efficiency.
We identified a new market opportunity for Intel, with a focus on the construction sector, to find new ways to market for Intel’s drone tech in collaboration with the FK Group.
We expanded the knowledge on drones in the open source community, showcasing the value of integrating design and engineering throughout product development, resulting in a solid set of recommendations that we were able to release open source to the community of makers across the world.
Ways to market for UAVs
The Open Source Technology team was often tasked to find new opportunities to introduce trending technologies in different contexts, with the view to identify potential partnerships within Intel and or with other companies outside the business. The main goal was to foster the use of a specific technology and identify early adopters and potential markets.
On this project, I was responsible for the design and research strategy, managing the project from the start to final prototyping.
Project Hypothesis
Large areas such as building sites or military zones are difficult to access, monitor and manage for professionals. Drones could help to monitor those areas and in some cases replace human labour where access is limited.
Research
We wanted to validate our hypothesis and we started different streams of Research to understand a little bit more about the technology, and how a drone works. The entire research process was planned by engineers and designers working together on a daily basis on the same problem.
Market & Technical review
Comparison of 20 different drones available on the Market. We chose a range of drones based on the unique characteristics they offer. That includes drones with FPV (first person view), GPS, voice control, bird wings instead of propellers and those with or without gyroscope.
Design and Building a Drone
Building a drone from scratch, instead of using DIY drone kits, to understand the weight to lift ratio. We also tested various customisation methods using Arduino and 3D Printing. The main goal was not to make the drone fly, but understand what enables it to do so.
Semi Structured Interviews
15 Online Surveys on DIY Drones community and 6 Direct Skype Interviews with entrepreneurs focused on drone technology and used ground control.
Initial findings
End to End experience for professional drones is inconsistent, dependable on regulations that are different in each country.
Drones have technical limitations, such as battery life, which make them difficult to use to monitor large building sites planning long missions.
Flight Data Overflow makes it hard for the operator to prioritise data consumption and act fast in difficult situations.
The Manchester Stadium Roof
We partnered with FK Group, a worldwide full building envelope contractor, to identify new opportunities for using drones in large building sites. The company was responsible for building the new extension for the Manchester Stadium roof, so our project team spent some time with FK Group in Manchester to understand the context thoroughly. We interviewed the site manager, HR manager and a few contractors, we also spent some time observing how people were working on top of the stadium’s roof.
Overall our in field research confirmed the initial desk and technical research:
When it comes to large projects like this one, managing the process from design to execution is not cost effective and the delta between the design and the final result is usually very high.
Human error chances are also very high, because some areas are difficult to reach in extreme working conditions.
It is more and more difficult to find professionals who have the skills to perform specific tasks in difficult weather conditions.
Towards design recommendations: personas, scenarios, flows
Our initial project hypothesis was confirmed by the collaboration with FK Group. We identified three main proto personas for this project, we started to generate ideas on how to design a platform that could simplify the workflow and the interaction between site manager, engineers and drone operator. We followed the IBM design loop process to iterate out ideas: observe, reflect, make.
Designing the Platform
Designers and engineers spent a week together in idea generating workshops, the new ideas were contextualised with our technical and infield research.
The overall process brought to life a basic set of features for the initial multi-device platform, which had the aim to connect the different workflows of the site manager, engineers with the drone operator, to monitor a large building site and identify critical areas that needed maintenance. From wireframes to more detailed designs we ended up with a working prototype, which was socialised with the rest of the business, together with our recommendations and guidelines. We created a microsite that we open sourced.
