ESSENSE | A new form of navigation | Case Study 2021-2022 | Pforzheim University

When operating a conventional navigation device, the user is dependent on auditory or visual input. This demands attention and can distract from driving the vehicle. Particularly for drivers of two-wheelers, this is exacerbated by the fact that hearing the instructions is not always possible in noisy city traffic. Using a visual interface is also difficult, or at least inconvenient, as it requires an additional mount on a bicycle, scooter or motorcycle. 

Even if you have to find your way around a foreign city on foot, it is helpful not to have to keep looking at your smartphone.

With ESSENSE, this pain will be in the past. ESSENSE is a device that allows users to navigate intuitively without auditory or visual feedback. That means your full focus will be on the road. Whether it is on your motorbike, bicycle or as a tourist on foot, you wont be distracted by a screen. This way you can stay safe and enjoy your surroundings fully.

Felix Gräter | Industrial Designer

Victoria Klaube | Business Marketing

Burak Tepeli | Product Design and Development, Engineering

UX Design/Research, UI design, brand identity, Engineering, Prototyping

01 Research: Competitive Analysis, Surveys, Interviews, Affinity Mapping, Personas

02 Design: BMC, USP, Customer Journey, Concept Dev, Prototyping

03 Evaluate: Prototype, Product Design, Packaging, Cost Breakdown, Distribution and Marketing, Signal Transmission, Wireframing, UI Design

Adobe CC, Miro, Figma, Adobe XD, Canva, Rhino, Solidworks, Cinema 4D

Mar. 2020-Mar.2021

Refined in Jun 2022

We first looked into the market to examine whether existing products can make navigation seamlessly easy to use.

We found that:

-Most products include the common navigation softwares, but solely focus on the audio-visual aspect of it

-They are not cross functional, so what works well in a car might not work well on a motorcycle or bike

-The price point on these niche products for the bike and motorcycle is very high for most customers with no significant increase in the user experience of an intuitive navigation

Therefore, we hope to create a tool that can tailor to the needs of all three areas, to help them quickly understand where to go, while having their eyes and ears focused on the road.

In Germany, 57.5 million people use a smartphone in their everyday life (Statista, 2019). Furthermore, about 80% of people use a bicycle in their everyday life or even in their leisure time and there are about 4.4 million motorcycles registered and on the roads in Germany (bmvi, 2019) (statista, 2020). In 2018, a survey by Deutsche Telekom showed that a large proportion of respondents find a navigation system for pedestrians interesting. But also in the U.S., more than 50% of people use their smartphone for navigation (statista, 2018) . The statistics show that there is potential market for this new type of navigation.

In addition, a survey was conducted to get an up-to-date statistic and insight into the market and to ask the interest of potential customers. The survey consists of 9 questions and 70 people participated. The survey showed that intuitive navigation has high potential. The questions and results of the survey are presented in the following images.

To better understand how users currently navigate through the city and identify potential problems, I advocated for conducting user interviews first before diving into solutions.

A series of in-depth interviews were then conducted on 5 participants to further identify pain points, frustrations, needs, and desires with existing products to determine how ESSENSE could improve this experience.

-Most users do not want to let go off their Navigation Apps on their smartphone, so it is important to create a collaborative product, connected with the customers navigation

-People would like to have an intuitive navigation experience, without any audio-visual distraction

-This new navigation form should be durable in harsh conditions

Because of these difficulties, it is important to understand the customers needs in all 3 areas. To further understand each Use case, we analysed the personas which you can see in the following slide.

To better guide our design and enable everyone on the team to empathize with our users, I further synthesized the interview results and came up with the following personas:

A BMC was created to visualize and structure the business model of intuitive navigation using a wristband. It thus serves as the basis for the concept and the subsequent implementation of the product idea. In the following chapters, individual components of the BMC will be discussed in more detail.

The unique selling proposition (USP), also called the value proposition, results from the following three questions:

Customer Journey
The customer journey describes the interaction of the user with the product. It begins with the generation of the need, continues with the use of the product, and ends with brand loyalty. The individual steps are shown in the following figure.

The development of the concepts results in a total of three designs. 

Concept 1 includes a thin wristband designed with eight vibramotors. 

The second concept, with two wristbands, contains ten vibramotors each. 

The third concept is a wider textile strap. This contains several small vibramotors to implement flowing signals. 

The three concepts have to be designed with respect to the required commands, which are important for navigation. The commands, such as a sharp left turn, must then be converted into a signal that is also perceived clearly and understandably by the user. Different commands were defined, these are deposited in the appendix. 

The prototypes are used to test the functionality of the three concepts. 

For this purpose, vibration motors are controlled via an Elegoo UNO R3. 

The vibration motors have a nominal power of 70mA at a voltage of 3V. The voltage is regulated by a specially made programming. As a first prototype the variant "Minimal" is tested. The model is built in the CAD program "Autodesk Fusion 360" and produced via a 3D printer. The motors are inserted and controlled. It is found that it is not possible to localize the individual motors because the housing vibrates as a whole. 

A simplified, flexible experimental setup is being developed for the second model. Using 3D-printed brackets, the motors can be attached to a flexible belt in different numbers and at different distances. The motors are thus decoupled from each other. In the second model, 4 motors are initially attached to the wristband in order to be able to reproduce the directional instructions "Forward", "Backward", "Left" and "Right" respectively. The setup is tested on two persons. It is found that the distinction between two directly adjacent motors is possible, but requires concentration. Another set-up with two wristbands on one arm yields the result that a distinction between front and back is possible. 

The third setup uses two wristbands for the left and right arm. The distinction of directional instructions between left and right is very clear and unambiguous. After further tests, it turns out that a total of four motors are sufficient to reproduce many signals. 

Prototype evaluation
For further development, the concept with two wristbands will be pursued. The original goal of using only one wristband cannot provide a satisfactory clear distinction between directional instructions. The most important goal, intuitive navigation, is met with two wristbands. Another advantage is that only four motors are sufficient. A disadvantage is that everything is needed in duplicate.

The housing part is connected to the belt via positive fit as well as four screws. 

The magnetic charging port is located on the inside. A button on the top is used to turn the device on and off. A status LED shows the user whether the band is turned on and connected to the smartphone.

The case is made as a 2K plastic part by injection molding. The inner part of the case is made with the same material (TPU) of the strap. As a result, the housing is dimensionally stable, but corresponds to the strap visually and haptically. Laser welding is used to insert the vibration motor into the wristband, as the motor could be damaged in the injection molding process. The motor is inserted with flat ribbon cable between the two TPU parts, which are welded by laser.

​​​​​​​The digital model is modeled in the CAD programs SolidWorks and Rhinoceros. 

The renderings are created in Cinema4D. 

In order to estimate the component sizes, an analysis of the components of smartwatches and fitness wristbands available on the market was performed. The required components consist of: 

Motherboard with Bluetooth module and microprocessor, two vibration motors, NFC antenna, Li-polymer battery and charging port. The NFC antenna is used to establish a connection via Bluetooth and is therefore located on the top. The components are arranged so that the vibration motors are decoupled from the casing so that the vibrations are only felt locally.

​​​​​​​The cost-benefit-price portfolio shown in the following image has been used to determine a market target price. Customer benefit is of central importance here. After all, customers are only prepared to pay for a product if they expect it to be of benefit to them. The following diagram shows the customer benefits and the price of the product and the competitor products. The customer benefit is specifically divided into "everyday" and "specific application" because the product is not a common smartwatch, but specializes explicitly in navigation. Based on this classification, it can be determined what price customers are willing to pay for the product.

Distribution and marketing
The product is to be available in retail stores, as well as in multimedia stores and online retail websites. Initially, the product is to be presented at trade fairs such as "Tech" or "Cebit" in order to reach a wider audience. Furthermore, a crowdfunding campaign is to be launched via "Startnext", as investors also represent potential customers. Furthermore, social media and an own website serve as a marketing tool. Especially through social media, direct contact with the customer is possible and also direct feedback on the product and its functions. Influencers can serve as role models and thus strengthen the brand and the product. 

The directional instructions of the app and the translations into signals of the wristbands are shown below. For both wristbands, the voltage regulation (Y-axis) of the total of four motors for the commands can be seen in a respective graph. Depending on the type of command, the distance to the turn or the time interval is labeled on the X-axis. Before a turn, the upper motor of the corresponding wristband starts to get stronger continuously. When the user is about to make a turn, the lower motor gives three pulses representing the intensity of the turn. In general, two principles apply:

1.the upper motor indicates the direction, the lower motor conveys additional information about the intensity of the turn or the exit number.

2.if the user is to drive straight ahead, no signal is given. To learn the meaning of the commands, the customer can use the app. A description of each signal can be found in the appendix. Depending on the mode (pedestrian/bicycle/motorcycle) the signal adapts, so for pedestrian the signal starts 50m before the turn, for motorcyclist already at 500m.

After synthesizing the data gained from the user interviews, I started sketching wireframes. We created the following wireframes and brought Figma prototype to our potential users for feedback.

For the user experience of the ESSENSE Band, it was important to support the product with an app. The app offers users the option of securely linking their wristband to their personal account.

Afterwards, a window appears that tells you how the pairing is done. The connection can be established via NFC, and the data is transmitted via Bluetooth. Once the connection is established, the app offers an interface to the three biggest navigation apps. Here, the choice is between GoogleMaps, the most-used navigation app, Apple Maps, and the app Waze. This is followed by a window where a short tutorial explains how the ESSENSE Band works. After finishing the tutorial, the navigation can be started. 

Here the destination is set and it is selected whether the route is used as a motorcyclist, as a cyclist or as a pedestrian. A warning is given at the start of the route whether the ESSENSE tapes are ready to start. If the device is ready to start, the ride can be started. 

ESSENSE | Trailer

-Know Where you are in the Design Process Wireframe ideas before committing to high-fidelity mockups.

-Usability First No matter how aesthetically pleasing your work may be, it won’t strike a chord with the user unless it is easy to use.

-Feedback Matters User-testing is key to a quality product. Make sure to ask the right questions in order to meet the user's needs. What users think they are doing is often not what they actually do.

This was a great project for understanding in the UX process from user research to prototyping up until the finalization of the product design.

The project work started with the idea of enhancing people's senses through technology. Finally, a product was developed that helps the customer to concentrate on the essentials himself and his surroundings.

The goal is for the user to find their way around even in unfamiliar places without having to rely on a screen or auditory cues. Market and technology research revealed the product's potential. Investigation of suitable body areas for tactile feedback formed the basis for the concepts developed. Testing with real prototypes provided important insights into intuitive use, which led to the determination of a concept with two wristbands. This was further developed using a business model canvas to consider customer needs, the market, and costs.

Challenges such as building the prototypes and placing all components in a compact package were overcome. The transfer of directional instructions into easily understandable signals and a supporting app complete the product concept. The cooperation with a provider of navigation software offers a promising approach, since in addition to the hardware, the software makes a decisive contribution to the function.

We are confident that ESSENSE brings with it a high potential to become a market success.

If you want to read further about this project please check out these two published articles:

https://bnn.de/pforzheim/pforzheimer-studenten-erfinden-intuitives-navigationssystem

https://www.hs-pforzheim.de/en/aktuelles/news/detail/news/weniger_ablenkung_im_strassenverkehr_intuitive_navigation_via_armband_pressemitteilung