From the category archives:

automation

Dangers of Automatic Windows

by Anne McLaughlin
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Recently I posted on some potential human factors problems caused by Toyota’s design of their floor mats. For this post, I would like to compliment Toyota on their automatic power windows. The windows can be lowered fully and automatically by one quick press on the button. However, to be raised, the lever on the button must be continuously raised [...]

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HFES Conference Part 5: Automation & Trust & Google Maps

by Richard Pak

During the conference I had a very personal experience with the effects of automation reliability on trust and subsequent behaviors.  First, a bit of background.  There is a large body of research examining how humans interact with automated systems (Global positioning systems, for example).  Human-automation interaction is quite complex; being affected by many factors.
Julian Sanchez (of MITRE) presented a poster [...]

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HFES Conference in San Antonio, Part 3 – Health/Internet…and ROBOTS!

by Richard Pak
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One of my major interests at the moment is in the use of technological tools (primarily the Web) in the management of health.  So it was with great pleasure that there was so much research on this topic (I will mention more in future posts).
The first was presented in the Aging session (where Anne was program chair).  Jessie [...]

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Usability issues in navigating your life

by Richard Pak

Gordon Bell, a Microsoft Researcher, is recording his life in excruciating detail in a project dubbed MyLifeBits:
Web sites he’s visited (221,173), photos taken (56,282), emails sent and received (156,041), docs written and read (18,883), phone conversations had (2,000), photos snapped by the SenseCam hanging around his neck (66,000), songs listened to (7,139), and videos taken by him (2,164).
Why is he [...]

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911! I’m Locked In My Car…Oh, Pull Lock? Thanks

by Richard Pak

There must be a human factors angle here somewhere in this story.  Perhaps the consequences of automation leading to out of the loop syndrome?  Click through to the story to hear the 911 call.
KISSIMMEE, Fla. – A woman locked in her car in Kissimmee called 911 on Tuesday.
“It’s getting very hot in here, and I’m not feeling well,” the caller [...]

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Consumer RFID technology–The Mirror by Violet

by Richard Pak

Violet has introduced an interesting computer peripheral called the Mirror that is an RFID reader for home users.  You apply RFID tags to everyday objects, program their actions, and when waved over the mirror, the actions are run from the computer.
When I first saw the following video, I was skeptical–their initial use cases in the video seemed silly.  But around [...]

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“Smart” devices may help dementia sufferers remember to shut off stove, live at home longer

by Richard Pak

From Peter Squire (of The Daily Human Factor) another interesting story on using technology to support aging in place:
“The whole objective is to enable people to stay at home as long as they can,” says Bruce Carey-Smith, a BIME design engineer. The system reports the wealth of information it collects—from potential problems to successful interventions—to health care providers. “It’s about [...]

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Lighting up the lives of the elderly – adaptively

by Richard Pak

From Peter Squire (of The Daily Human Factor):

Artificial light affects us in subtle ways. At its best, ambient lighting can relax, soothe or excite, but used poorly it can drain us of energy and disrupt sleep. What if lighting could adapt automatically to meet our individual needs?
The result, say a team of European researchers, would be an improvement in the [...]

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In 2019 I will be 44…

by Richard Pak

Here is a neat vision of what 2019 will be like courtesy Microsoft Office Labs.  This concept video was produced by Microsoft and shown at the Wharton Business Technology Conference.  Two things that caught my attention were the prodigious use of touch interface and gestures (which I am not crazy about; my finger/hands get tired using my iPod touch to [...]

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Google PowerMeter

by Richard Pak

We’ve spoken before about the role of human factors in energy conservation. It looks like Google is taking a big step toward raising awareness of home energy usage from your desktop.  With the installation of home energy meters, you may soon be able to track your own power usage:
Google PowerMeter, now in prototype, will receive information from utility smart [...]

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Smart Cars

by Anne McLaughlin

Recently, an Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS) hit the news in Europe. I’ve always been interested in advanced navigation systems (and their problems), so I check in on some of the research programs occasionally. After all, individual differences from culture to aging all affect how we use navigation systems.
The original article I mentioned briefly addresses the errors these systems may [...]

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With automated tagging, Web links can surprise

by Richard Pak

I‘ve previously posted on the topic of tagging. As more products attempt to automate the process of creating tags from content, more problems are bound to appear like below.  A pretty clear case of automation gone wrong!:
It wasn’t what anyone expected to see while perusing a news article. But there, in the final paragraph of an online story about [...]

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Human Factors Journal Celebrates 50 Years With Special Issue Highlighting Pivotal Research and Applications

by Richard Pak

The journal, Human Factors, is celebrating its 50th anniversary with a retrospective of some pivotal research and areas. To celebrate, the entire issue is available online for free. Some highlights:

The Split Keyboard: An Ergonomics Success Story
The Role of Expertise Research and Human Factors in Capturing, Explaining, and Producing Superior Performance
Multiple Resources and Mental Workload
Putting the Brain to Work: [...]

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High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe From Afar – NYTimes.com

by Richard Pak

First thing every morning, Lynn Pitet, of Cody, Wyo., checks her computer to see whether her mother, Helen Trost, has gotten out of bed, taken her medication and whether she is moving around inside her house hundreds of miles away in Minnesota.
High-Tech Devices Keep Elderly Safe From Afar – NYTimes.com

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Overcoming the big downside of tagging

by Richard Pak

“A tag is a (relevant) keyword or term associated with or assigned to a piece of information (a picture, a geographic map, a blog entry, a video clip etc.), thus describing the item and enabling keyword-based classification and search of information.” [Wikipedia]
Tagging is the process of assigning keywords or phrases to items. To be more concrete, many of us [...]

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Trust in Automation

by Anne McLaughlin

I’ve heard a great deal about trust and automation over the years, but this has to be my favorite new example of over-reliance on a system.
GPS routed bus under bridge, company says
“The driver of the bus carrying the Garfield High School girls softball team that hit a brick and concrete footbridge was using a GPS navigation system that [...]

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