Starship Modification
Discovering New Uses for the Starship Delivery Robot
Starships are an autonomous delivery product that deliver food orders on campuses, all over the US and Europe. But what else can Starships be used for? Within this project, we explore user mental frames from students on the Purdue University campus of Starship robots, automated delivery and designing a delivery system that produces new kinds of human-human connections.
Our Challenge
After conducting background research and brainstorming different ideas to solve for, my team and I ultimately decided to solve for the following.
Problem Statement
Purdue students often borrow household, hair, and cleaning appliances from each other. However, Freshmen, students with disabilities, and those without cars or on-campus apartments struggle with this due to time constraints and significant spatial distances. A solution is needed to streamline and enhance the efficiency of item exchanges—addressing time, distance, and accessibility challenges for a better borrowing experience among Purdue students.
Design Question
How can we use Starships to allow students to borrow and exchange items more efficiently on the Purdue University Campus?
The Design Process
The design process was broken down into four simple steps.
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Data Collection
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Data Analysis
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Prototyping
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Conclusion
Data Collection
Secondary Research Goals
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To investigate usability, lending, borrowing, and delivery robots in general and on college campuses, to determine how we can use Starships to allow students to borrow and exchange items more efficiently
Interview Goals
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Gain an understanding of Purdue students’ current experiences with Starship Robots, including their opinions on the convenience, efficiency, and overall contribution to the campus environment.
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Propose the idea of an intra-community delivery system and see what the overall attitude towards the concept is.
Observation Session Goals
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To document the difference between what users intend to do and what they actually do when interacting with Starships.
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To understand the user action in their natural environment, providing unbiased insights going through their daily life and the Starships role in them.
Data Analyzation
Secondary
Research
Within our secondary research, my team and I investigated usability, college, lending, borrowing, and delivery robots in general to determine how we can use Starships can facilitate students in borrowing and exchanging items more efficiently. Below are some key insights we found.
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Customer Satisfaction in Fast Dining Restaurant Services: Understanding how customer satisfaction contributes to loyalty for both Fast Dining Restaurant Services and the restaurants utilizing these services.
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The Perception and Acceptance of Robots in Daily Life: Exploring how the general public perceives robots and the extent to which they are willing to integrate them into their lives.
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Challenges on Package Delivery with Autonomous Robots on Pedestrian Walkways: Examining challenges such as traffic law liability, compliance issues, and potential societal resistance due to the use of these pathways.
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Positive Aspects of Starships on the Environment: Reducing CO2 emissions through Starships’ autonomy.
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Safety Measures for Human-Robot Interaction: How industries ensure safe collaboration between humans and robots. Identifying features that imply safety and exploring how these measures can be integrated into the entire delivery process rather than only to the robot itself.
Interviews
After conducting our interviews, we assimilated and categorized the data in four categories creating an Affinity Diagram.
Above is our affinity diagram that we categorized each team members interview findings into Issues with Starship, Advantages of Starship, Proposed Improvement for Starship, and Ideas for New Uses for Borrowing.
When incorporating this information into our final design, we wanted to ensure that we maintained the robots’ convenience, ease of use, and time saving aspects. However, to address the concerns around lacking a direct line of communication with the owner of the service, we made it so users could interact directly with the owner of the product they want to borrow. All the arrangements of pick up, drop off, and pricing are negotiated with the lender.
Observation
Session
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Prototyping
Scenarios
Scenario Ideation
The image to the left displays a brainstorm of different ideas of scenarios the borrowing system could be used for.
Step by Step
The image to the right was used to outline the step by step process process of borrowing a calculator through Starship.
User Scenarios
For our StarLenders concept, above we identified two actors within the user group: the person lending, and the person borrowing. These are user scenarios for each one, including the motivators, intention, action, and resolution of the process.
Detailed User Scenario
Above is a more detailed account of the borrower’s user scenario, as introduced in the previous image. We also categorized the steps into who they would be completed by.
Storyboard
This is a storyboard of a user who needs a whisk to make a cake. They go through the process of requesting a whisk, negotiating price, receiving the whisk from a lender, and returning it. The storyboard shows when the users would interact with the Starship and the app.
App Mockups
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Home Page
Upon opening the app, users can select if they will be borrowing or lending, since they are able to do either. This screen acts as the place users can easily character switch based on their needs.
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Borrowing Page
This is a mockup of what some of the app’s borrowing request page would look like. The user would fill in all of the following information to later show on the lender side.
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Lender Page
We have strict standards when it comes to what we produce and never compromise on quality. This is especially true when it comes to the first-rate materials we use. Our customers deserve the highest level of products on the market, and we work tirelessly to maintain those standards.
Conclusion
Impact
The project began with the investigation of diverse ideas beyond food delivery, exploring how Starships could enhance the Purdue University campus experience. Throughout investigation, my team immersed in the problem space, uncovering challenges faced by students in borrowing and lending items. During the ideation phase, we crafted concepts with a focus on ease of use, aligning with user’s everyday lifestyles, year-round utility, and the promotion of human interaction.
Ultimately, our research and analysis paved the way for transforming Starship into a platform to further bring together a community. This platform seamlessly connects students, enabling them to effortlessly lend and borrow products. For lenders, it’s a chance to make a few bucks on the side, while borrowers enjoy the perks of accessing items without the hassle of logistics or purchasing new products.
Reflection
Throughout this project, I gained insights into the design process and its role in creating impactful products. My team and I gathered and utilized data to inform decisions for our project. I had lots of interest in identifying pain points and devising creative solutions. Beyond design, I learned numerous new skills. Here are some of them.
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To identify problems and narrowing the focus into a clear problem statement and design question.
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Gained proficiency in conducting effective interviews and observations to gather valuable insights.
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Acquired the skill of creating and utilizing affinity diagrams to identify patterns in interviews and analyze their significance.
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Learned to streamline focus during observation sessions, ensuring efficient and effective information gathering.
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Developed the ability to create explanatory and user scenarios to understand user interactions with the product in various contexts.
Contribution
For this project, I was involved in all parts of the process discussed above. All the pictures on this page of the design process I was a part of making and designing. For secondary research, interviews, and the observation session each member researched one of the data points. All photos of the Starship Delivery Robots are from the Starship site.