Smart Products

DESCRIPTION
The graduates in Industrial Design Engineering must be able to conceptualize, design and prototype smart connected products that feature more advanced characteristics than their traditional equivalent versions. The graduate in Industrial Design Engineering must carry out these activities taking into consideration additional aspects such as user experience, business potential and target market, or production cost, in order to achieve optimal smart product design. Consequently, during this course the student will explore related concepts and will develop experimental activities for acquiring this competence.

PRE-REQUISITES
Competences obtained previously in the subject "Applied computing"

CONTENTS
UNIT 1: INTRODUCTION.
Introduction to smart Internet-connected products.

UNIT 2: INDUSTRIES.
Case studies for fitness, healthcare, home automation and smart cities, among others. Service architectures and business models.

UNIT 3: USER EXPERIENCE.
Usability, values and emotional aspects in the product use experience.

UNIT 4: EMBEDDED PLATFORMS.
Embedded connected platforms to prototype smart products. Characteristics and comparative analysis.

UNIT 5: SENSORS AND ACTUATORS.
Analog and digital input/output. Temperature, light, IR, humidity, pressure and motion sensors.

UNIT 6: COMMUNICATIONS.
Wireless technologies. WiFi, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Low Energy, RFID/NFC.

UNIT 7: SMART PRODUCTS LABORATORY.
Design and programming of prototypes using embedded platforms. Remote monitoring and control through smart mobile devices.

METHODOLOGY
The learning methodology is based on the introduction of concepts through lectures and analysis of case studies, followed by laboratory sessions where students explore and acquired the required skills for designing and developing smart connected products, through guided tutorials and practical exercises.

The following strategy will be used:

+ Presentations and lectures of the fundamental concepts, architectures, industries, examples and technologies related to the field of smart products.

+ These lectures will be complemented with discussions and case analysis sessions in order to obtain a 360 degrees vision (developer and user) of the process of conceptualization, design and development of smart products. Students will document their findings and present proposals for connected products.

+ Laboratory sessions where students will experiment a direct contacts with hardware and software development platforms, and they will increasingly acquire the required skills through lecturer-guided tutorials. These lab sessions will be accompanied with practical exercises so the students can face typical challenges and apply the obtained learnings. These exercises will be present during all the semester and will be supervised by the instructor, through a continuous assessment process.

+ A final project will be presented to the students, where they have to apply all knowledge, technologies and tools, obtained during theory and laboratory sessions. The development of the project will take place during the last weeks of the course, devoting time during class sessions and out-of-class periods. The lecturer will provide support during this activity and students must comply with a planning based on milestones that will be checked weekly. This project must be carried out in groups or 2-3 people (individually, only in exceptional cases), and must be fully documented and presented to the lecturer with a demo.

ASSESSMENT
Generic and specific competences will be evaluated through three instruments:

+ REPORTS. Students will develop studies and proposals for smart products, providing a documentation report, presenting it during the course. This activity counts for 20% of the total subject grade.

+ PROBLEM SOLVING. The lecturer will provide problems and exercises about technical prototyping, hardware and software integration in smart products, that the students must solve and hand in properly documented. This task comprises several activities and counts for 20% of the total subject grade.

+ PROJECT. Students will develop a final project in groups where they must integrate all the skills related to planning, design and prototyping of smart products acquired during the course, as well as a proper project plan and progress reports. The project must be documented and presented to the lecturer. This activity counts for 30% of the total subject grade and it is compulsory to pass the course.

+ THEORY TEST. The student must solve a final knowledge test . This activity counts for 30% of the total subject grade and it is compulsory.