Prototype evaluation of a user centered design system for smart homes
M. Heidari Jozam, Erfaneh Allameh, Bauke de Vries, Harry J.P. Timmermans · 2012
Using system prototypes in the domain of Smart Home Design has become a principal research approach in this emerging area. Several virtual (VR) simulators propose to reduce the testing costs by replacing actual home services with virtual objects to visualize the behaviour of the Smart Home. Most developed prototypes are used in functionality tests of Smart Homes with less attention to the users’ point of view. While the efforts toward developing user centered system prototypes of Smart Homes are rare, we propose a VR prototype, which not only visualises Smart Home spaces and functions but also let users perform several real time interactions. It is assumed that using this system improves users' understanding of Smart Homes and their involvement in the communication with designers. Accordingly, designers will be able to collect users’ feedback of the design in virtual taskbased interactions. Therefore, this system can be a helpful toolset for designers to consider users` attitude and preferences and to increase users` acceptance of Smart Homes. Considering the assumption, we outline an