Capstone Design

A Pedagogical Toolfor Usability Science

Susan Beckhardt

Advisors: Chris FernandesAaron Cass

James Hedrick

Outline• Introduction to Usability Science

• Project requirements

• Design

• Future work

• Questions

IntroductionWhat is Usability Science?

The Project• A system to simulate control panels and record test data

Requirements• Simulate the layout of a control panel

• repositionable

• Programmable

• connect inputs to

desired outputs

• Log events

Additional Requirements

• Repositionable I/O devices (widgets)

• Ease of physical setup

• Easy to update/modify

• Easy to create new widgets

Additional Desired Features(“wish list”)

• Easy to program (with little computer experience)

• Aesthetics

Design• I/O Widgets: Simple input or output devices (switches, lights, etc.)

• Controller

• Event Logger

• Controller-widget communication via ethernet

Widget

Controller• State Machine

• User program defines state machine

• Controller loop:• Wait for an input signal• Change outputs based on input and state• Change state• Send input/output/state change data to event logger

Event Logger• Receives/records messages from controller:

• input received

• output changed

• new state

• add time stamp

TINI Networked Microcontroller

• controls each widget

• runs Java

• built-in Ethernet capability

Results

• Working with two TINI Networked Microcontrollers

• Fully implemented widget

Future Work

• Implement full controller and event logger

• Create more widgets!

Questions?