In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a team of the roboticist from the University of Southern Denmark developed a fully automatic throat swab robot.
I was hired as a contracter via the Copenhagen Institute of Interaction to lead the design efforts of an end-to-end experience. This project was particularly challenging because the interaction required a person to allow a robot to swab the back of their throat, which most participants were not comfortable with. Much of our design efforts was focused on helping make the patient comfortable with this disorienting relationship with a machine.
In parallel to designing the core interactions of their swabbing robot, we explored other alternatives such as a vending machine for self tests.
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A screen was positioned at the top for the patient to be guided through the experience
Our team designed the full service, starting from arrival at the test site
Onboaring was designed to help the patient understand how the test works
Part of the UX flow included a practice sequence to get the patient comfortable with opening their mouth properly
Our team tested the first version of the robot to better understand the experience
The robot uses computer vision to detect when it can see the back of the throat and then begins the swab
Our team built a low-fi version of the robot in the studio so we could test interactions rapidly
Our team conducted analagous research to understand other interaction paradigms used for automated systems. Researched included photo booth (as seen here), grocery store checkout, car wash, etc.
