Playground Design: An evaluation tool for the creation of inclusive play experiences

Playing in its widest meaning involves physical, sensory and social/emotional aspects. With this in mind, designing play equipment as much as possible integrated throughout and inclusive is of great social importance but also a challenging issue, especially due to the complexity of variables intervening between product requirements and user capabilities. The research work presented proposes a novel methodology for assessing the level of inclusion when designing play experiences. A cross-correlating tool based on accessibility standards and disability descriptors was developed and validated with on field experiments and interviews. This approach allows to get an immediate feedback and reliable information on the level of inclusiveness of any type of game equipment and user disability. With the final aim of designing inclusive play experiences, the developed cross-correlation tool was also exploited for supporting the creation of novel design concepts of sensory/cognitive play, which are here presented

'HighChest': An augmented freezer designed for smart food management and promotion of eco-efficient behaviour

This paper introduces HighChest, an innovative smart freezer designed to promote energy efficient behavior and the responsible use of food. Introducing a novel humanâmachine interface (HMI) design developed through assessment phases and a user involvement stage, HighChest is state of the art, featuring smart services that exploit embedded sensors and Internet of things functionalities, which enhance the local capabilities of the appliance. The industrial design thinking approach followed for the advanced HMI is intended to maximize the social impact of the food management service, enhancing both the user experience of the product and the userâs willingness to adopt eco- and energy-friendly behaviors. The sensor equipment realizes automatic recognition of food by learning from the users, as well as automatic localization inside the deposit space. Moreover, it provides monitoring of the applianceâs usage, avoiding temperature and humidity issues related to improper use. Experimental tests were conducted to evaluate the localization system, and the results showed 100% accuracy for weights greater or equal to 0.5 kg. Drifts due to the lid opening and prolonged usage time were also measured, to implement automatic reset corrections