A transformational creativity tool to support chocolate designers

A new formulation of the central ideas of Boden's well-established theory on combinational, exploratory and transformational creativity is presented. This new formulation, based on the idea of conceptual space, redefines some terms and includes several types of concept properties (appropriateness and relevance), whose relationship facilitates the computational implementation of the transformational creativity mechanism. The presented formulation is applied to a real case of chocolate designing in which a novel and flavorful combination of chocolate and fruit is generated. The experimentation was conducted jointly with a Spanish chocolate chef. Experimental results prove the relationship between appropriateness and relevance in different frameworks and show that the formulation presented is not only useful for understanding how the creative mechanisms of design works but also facilitates its implementation in real cases to support creativity processes.Postprint (author's final draft

A contribution to the incorporation of sociability and creativity skills to computers and robots

This dissertation contains the research and work completed by the PhD candidate on the incorporation of sociability and creativity skills to computers and robots. Both skills can be directly related with empathy, which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In this form, this research can be contextualized in the framework of recent developments towards the achievement of empathy machines. The first challenge at hands refers to designing pioneering techniques based on the use of social robots to improve user experience interacting with them. In particular, research focus is on eliminating or minimizing pain and anxiety as well as loneliness and stress of long-term hospitalized child patients. This challenge is approached by developing a cloud-based robotics architecture to effectively develop complex tasks related to hospitalized children assistance. More specifically, a multiagent learning system is introduced based on a combination of machine learning and cloud computing using low-cost robots (Innvo labs's Pleo rb). Moreover, a wireless communication system is also developed for the Pleo robot in order to help the health professional who conducts therapy with the child, monitoring, understanding, and controlling Pleo behavior at any moment. As a second challenge, a new formulation of the concept of creativity is proposed in order to empower computers with. Based on previous well established theories from Boden and Wiggins, this thesis redefines the formal mechanism of exploratory and transformational creativity in a way which facilitates the computational implementation of these mechanisms in Creativity Support Systems. The proposed formalization is applied and validated on two real cases: the first, about chocolate designing, in which a novel and flavorful combination of chocolate and fruit is generated. The second case is about the composition of a single voice tune of reel using ABC notation

A contribution to the incorporation of sociability and creativity skills to computers and robots

This dissertation contains the research and work completed by the PhD candidate on the incorporation of sociability and creativity skills to computers and robots. Both skills can be directly related with empathy, which is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. In this form, this research can be contextualized in the framework of recent developments towards the achievement of empathy machines. The first challenge at hands refers to designing pioneering techniques based on the use of social robots to improve user experience interacting with them. In particular, research focus is on eliminating or minimizing pain and anxiety as well as loneliness and stress of long-term hospitalized child patients. This challenge is approached by developing a cloud-based robotics architecture to effectively develop complex tasks related to hospitalized children assistance. More specifically, a multiagent learning system is introduced based on a combination of machine learning and cloud computing using low-cost robots (Innvo labs's Pleo rb). Moreover, a wireless communication system is also developed for the Pleo robot in order to help the health professional who conducts therapy with the child, monitoring, understanding, and controlling Pleo behavior at any moment. As a second challenge, a new formulation of the concept of creativity is proposed in order to empower computers with. Based on previous well established theories from Boden and Wiggins, this thesis redefines the formal mechanism of exploratory and transformational creativity in a way which facilitates the computational implementation of these mechanisms in Creativity Support Systems. The proposed formalization is applied and validated on two real cases: the first, about chocolate designing, in which a novel and flavorful combination of chocolate and fruit is generated. The second case is about the composition of a single voice tune of reel using ABC notation.Postprint (published version

A Transformational creativity tool to support musical composition

In this paper we use the idea of conceptual space introduced by Boden and redefine some properties such appropriateness and relevance that facilitate the computational implementation of the transformational creativity mechanism. While appropriateness can only be evaluated by an expert, relevance can be objectively measured for any spectator. Computational creativity is based on the relationship between appropriateness and relevance of a concept, and therefore a computational system can be used to support this task. The paper analyses this relationship in the field of music in order to obtain a computer tool to support the musical composition task.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

The Combinator: A computer-based tool for idea generation

This is the final version. Available from the Design Society via the URL in this record. Design tends to benefit from the generation of alternative ideas. However, coming up with new ideas is often challenging. Design engineering suggests a process in which engineering approaches are applied in the activities that began with a design concept or proposal [Childs 2014]. Ideation is where a design concept begins, and it fundamentally determines the type of design produced and the value of business performed. Ideation or idea generation is the process of generating ideas in design activities. It is considered as a vital role to novel design concept development and the key to success in business competition [Jaruzelski et al. 2014]. Enterprises like Dyson and Apple have achieved great success due to their creative products, whereas firms like Nokia and Motorola have been acquired as they could not sustain their creative and business edge. The UK's most innovative companies historically generate over 75% of their profits from products that did not exist 5 years before [Cox 2005]. This indicates that generating creative ideas is necessary to novel concept development and ultimately innovation [Howard et al. 2011]. Therefore, more robust creative ideas are required to be developed for the needs of producing creative products, and thereby promoting commerce. However, generating creative ideas is difficult, due to problems such as lack of creative people, time pressure, numerous existing ideas, and limited core information. According to [Childs 2014], an enormous amount of information, the willingness and endeavour of producing ideas, and the capability of discarding irrelevant ideas are the essential elements of generating creative ideas. Nevertheless, creativity is a notoriously elusive phenomenon, often associated with human genius or serendipitous discovery. As a result, there has been increasing interest in recent years in understanding the factors that encourage creativity and exploring how it can be fostered. A number of creativity tools have been developed to help designers invent new ideas. These tools do not actually produce ideas [Childs 2014], but stimulate the user's creative mind by removing mental blocks and expanding searching space [Cross 2001]. Some, like brainstorming and mind mapping, are fairly easy to grasp but rely heavily on the user's experience and knowledge. Others, like TRIZ and SCAMPER, are rather complex and difficult to master. Some, like lateral thinking, are even inconsistent with normal human thought processes. Besides, different creativity tools possess diverse characteristics and are suitable for different personality attributes and different applications [Yan and Childs 2015]. This research project aims at developing a simple-to-learn and easy-to-use computer-based tool named the Combinator, which is based on combinational creativity theory, through a novel approach. The new tool is intended to assist designers to generate new ideas through combining familiar ideas. It is suitable for a variety of people as it matches with normal human thought mode and can provide users with relevant knowledge databases. The new tool is expected to help both novice designers as well as experienced designers come up with high valuable ideas easily and effectively, thereby tackling the challenges of nowadays fast-moving business market

The impact of novel people, places, and activities, in tourism

As part of an undergraduate research design class, we measured tourism experiences of 617tourists, during a day, and their potential impact, in a quantitative, cross-sectional manner. In May2023, a total of 30 tourism and experience design students teamed up from Breda University ofApplied Sciences, Netherlands, and Brigham Young University students, United States, andapproached tourists at 45 various tourist hot spots in the Rotterdam and the Amsterdam are

The impact of novel people, places, and activities, in tourism

As part of an undergraduate research design class, we measured tourism experiences of 617tourists, during a day, and their potential impact, in a quantitative, cross-sectional manner. In May2023, a total of 30 tourism and experience design students teamed up from Breda University ofApplied Sciences, Netherlands, and Brigham Young University students, United States, andapproached tourists at 45 various tourist hot spots in the Rotterdam and the Amsterdam are

Design leadership and communication: Characteristics and abilities of design leaders communicating design to non-designers during the fuzzy front end of new product development

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel UniversityThis research investigates the key characteristics of design leaders in the context of New Product Development (NPD) at the Fuzzy Front End (FFE) or early stage of this process. It particularly focuses on how design leaders communicate design to non-designers. It is often observed that designers struggle to communicate design to non-designers. Previous research has identified design leaders as competent design communicators. However, the definition and key characteristics of design leaders remain unclear. By reviewing the literature on leadership studies, design leadership and project leadership, it is evident that no single universal definition of leadership exists. The most common definition is that leaders apply their knowledge and skills to conduct activities and use their traits to influence other people’s actions. Leadership requires different characteristics for different tasks. To understand the characteristics of design leaders, triangulated research was employed at a real-life NPD project involving young designers and non-designers at early stages of NPD as part of the first study. All participants (N=32) were directly observed, interviewed in semi-structured interviews and administered with assistive questionnaires to compare design and non-design participants’ leadership and communication styles. The second study was in-depth, focusing on UK design leaders (N=11) through semi-structured interviews and based on deficiencies in leadership and communicating design, identified from the first study and the literature review. Comparative studies indicate that designers and design leaders vary their attitudes towards non-designers, motivation and communication style. This study highlights the key characteristics of design leaders: an epiphany by experiencing the entire NPD process, interest in the benefits of NPD stakeholders, a good understanding of design competency, reflectively flexible working attitude and strong, active listening. Thus, a conceptual model was formulated and evaluated, able to guide designers who wish to become design leaders and help to enhance design communication and relationships with non-designers

Children’s Garden Design: Young Children’s Perspectives on the Affordances of Outdoor Spaces

This qualitative case study of an early years setting sought young children’s perspectives on what is compelling in natural outdoor play spaces and on the affordances of the elements in the space. Five themes emerged from the interpretive analysis: creative affordances; active affordances; multisensory affordances; affordances for connoisseurship; and affordances for connections. The implications invite designers and educators to listen to children’s voices and to consider the affordances of the spaces from a child’s perspective