ReefBot Web

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Overview:
This semester-long project was the lab portion of the HCI Methods course at CMU. Each team was provided with a real-world client and was expected to apply the methods learned in class to deliver a solution grounded in the data collected and analyzed over the semester.

Problem Description:
ReefBot Web is a SPARK and Sprout Fund-sponsored project that extends the ReefBot console experience within Pittsburgh’s PPG Aquarium. The ReefBot console allows children and their parents to maneuver an aquatic robot that is equipped with an underwater camera, enabling users to capture photos of the marine life in the ReefBot tank. The Web portion of this project is designed to continue the learning experience and initiate discussion at home about ocean life and coral reef preservation. Our team of five students delivered a visual prototype of our solution to help bridge the aquarium experience back to the home.

Process:
Our team heavily relied on contextual inquiries to understand our target users, families with young children between the ages of 4 and 8 years old. With the families’ permission, we conducted three contextual inquiries (CIs) at the aquarium, which involved following and observing a family’s interactions with the museum and aquarium exhibits. Our focus was primarily on how the family picked out a toy from the Aquarium Gift Shop as our solution was inspired by how souvenirs that are brought home affect post-visit conversations and education.

Using the video footage captured in each CI, we modeled our data from a variety of aspects: flow of information, cultural factors, and sequence of actions. We omitted the physical and artifact models that we also learned in class as we did not feel these models were appropriate to our context. Using these models, we were able to locate breakdowns that inspired our end solution. In addition to CIs, we also created personas that helped us envision who we were designing for.

After coming up with an initial design of a personalized online trading card, we tested the concept using think-alouds with our paper prototype and tweaked our interface design based on the feedback provided by our participants. We also tested the efficiency of dragging vs. clicking interactions using CogTool software.

Our final high-fidelity visual prototype consisted of colorful screens that stepped through the process of creating an online trading card. The site first prompted the user with the code received from the ReefBot console after taking a photo using the ReefBot submersible robot. Once the photo was correctly identified, the child and parent would be able to create a personalized card. The child would be able to enter his/her name, identify their fish, answer various questions about the fish’s lifestyle, and were finally given the option to name their fish. Trading cards could be printed, shared, and saved.

Our recommendations for this solution were well-received by our client, who was excited to continue this project with a newly issued government grant.