Mobility, Wearability, and Virtual Reality; the Elements of User Friendly Human interfaces, Modern Platforms for Cooperation

Ilpo Reitmaa, Science and Technology Counsellor    Embassy of Finland, National Technology Agency Tekes

This paper is a part of the ICMA2000 discussion with views to

• User friendliness

• Benefits of being wireless

• Potential of virtual environments

• Wearability

• and views to all this as an obvious cooperation platform.

JAPAN THE TECHNOLOGY SUPERPOWER

Japan is a technology superpower that has achieved amazing results in the field of electronics, information technology, material technologies, production technologies, robotics, precision mechanics and in combining mechanics and electronics, just to name a few. Simultaneously we know about the Japanese high quality, high work ethics, and about devotion to work whenever a goal is set. Japan is a country of great human power and dedication. The Japanese seem to have world record in kindness. The Japanese also seem to hold a world record in getting organized and having unsurpassable loyalty to work.

WHY USER FRIENDLINESS, WHAT USER FRIENDLINESS?

In this context we are mainly talking about combining electronics to mechanics, about mechatronics, that is. In Japan, at the consumer side this can easily be seen as a multitude of mass produced personal and home devices of unsurpassable quality and cost effectiveness. However the potential of electromechanics (mechatronics, if you like) is not only limited to the perhaps most visible consumer sector. Industrial electromechanics and mechatronics penetrate in all fronts including, manufacturing technologies, robotics, microelectronic and micromechanic devices, to name just a few. So mechatronics, at business level is important both in the business to consumer and in the business to business markets.

Along with this ever spreading of application spectrum two well known phenomena occur, both in electronics and in mechanics and in combining them:

- Size of the devices decreases, and

- Complexity of devices increases.

Along with this development, there is even doubt whether profitable applications for all these new devices and systems any more really exist. That is; do capabilities and visions of electromechanics, IT, and of all our innovations exceed the needs? That is why the popular phrase about user friendliness becomes more serious issue than ever. User friendliness becomes more than a phrase.

Making our devices, systems and services understandable and compatible with human beings is the only way to go if we intend to give room for the internal complexity of our innovations to increase.

There are examples about this at the personal computer (PC) side. Increasing visible complexity combined with deliberate (?) user-unfriendliness has made the most popular personal computer operating system (Windows) to face the question: “can this anymore be the way to go?”. No, complexity must not show. User friendliness is the way to go. Complexity? It must remain inside.

Certainly the user friendliness as a term does call for a definition. There are better experts to do it. To me user friendliness is very practical things like

• Intuitive use

• Functions conforming to assumptions

• Needless manuals

• Forgiving algorithms

• Feeling of confidence

• Repeatability and transparency when operated.

The last item might be the most important: transparency to me meaning ”using” without any particular feeling of ”using”.

User friendliness is not a phrase. It is the necessity, the bottleneck to open, in order to give technology and our new innovations room to flow. The way to go to get technology to become more sophisticated internally, less complicated externally.

USER FRIENDLINESS, EACH DAY IS DIFFERENT

We might wonder why the question of user friendliness has not been solved long ago? Certainly everybody has wished to have devices, systems and services to match the human being from the very beginning, from the early days of engineering sciences?

Yes, technology evolves fast, but basic properties of human beings practically not at all. The basic senses, perception, muscle structure, brain structure, fundamentals of behavior of this two legged creature has remained and will remain basically same for tensthousands of years.

These is no Moore's law for human beings, saying that some doubling in our genetic structure would happen within so-and-so-many years. But, yes, there are valid and proven laws of increasing complexity at the technology side. In this type of circumstances, no wonder that mismatches may occur, daily.

Thus, though the genetic evolution rate of human beings is extremely slow (practically zero in our scale) there are changes in culture, changes in social environment and in human behavioral patterns as well. As an example:

- Early viewers of the very first cinemas were upset and deeply touched by the few minutes experience. On the other hand, today we can watch TV for hours and still easily remain organized about what we see.

This means, interaction with technology changes human behavioral patterns, too.

In Finland it has been demonstrated that the time for Internet browsing has been taken from watching TV. We also can see Internet accessed while walking. Again, along with all those changes in applying technology we get new behavioral patterns.

The actual result of all this? We will get new definitions for user friendliness in each of the new circumstances.

To conclude:

- Rapid development of technology, and

- Zero development of human genetic properties, and

- Gradual developments in social structures, and

- Development generated by human interaction with technology…

…all four mean that we will be facing a complex interfacing question, with at least four elements in it, when we are striving towards user friendliness. All this also means that user friendliness today is different from user friendliness of tomorrow.

When we wake up next morning the solutions to gain user friendliness will be different from what we believe today. Thus, there cannot be any permanent everlasting solution to user friendliness.

From the research and industry point of view, I would call this a benefit. There always some work, actually; a lot of work to be done.

Even more important, from the business point of view, user friendliness can be the competitive advantage for the quick implementers. Advantage for doing business and obtaining market share, that is. All the elements of user friendliness can be a very clear criteria when consumers and customers make decisions.

To conclude: User friendliness means business. User friendliness is dynamic, something today, different tomorrow. Early and up to date user friendliness means competitive advantage. Remember genetics, social situation, effect of human interaction with technology, and the technological complexity. All call for consideration.

WHY WIRELESS?

The well known tendency towards wireless can be explained in many ways. So, why wireless? At its most fundamental level, wireless means uninterruptible 24-hours-a-day of business. When not any more limited by wires, people move, get connected anywhere, at any instant — and become invoiced for that. In the current mobile handset (cell phone and alike) boom this can be seen most clearly.

The utmost urge of human being, being part of something (the network) and on the other hand still being free (to move) becomes realized all with one single personal device and one system solution.

To summarize, in the consumer world wireless means:

• 24 hour business

• Being part of, but simultaneously still…

• Being free

In the industrial environment being wireless brings along other types of benefits. It means faster setup and installation times for industrial systems and extended flexibility. In a production environment, for example, production lines can be configured with reasonable effort.

Wide use of wireless solutions has for long been constrained by safety and security issues because of the common communications path, in the air. However, for example, the proven achievements in mobile phone security is likely to give thrust for believing that wireless can be relied upon in the industrial environment as well. This is going to become interesting. The obvious wireless revolution at the consumer side seems to support the wireless...