Interaction Design and Energy
Background
In our research we focus on the meeting between energy, systems and people. We look at how ICT and interaction design can support humans to understand, interpret, trust, and control complex energy system. In recent years we have also expanded our research interest towards more technical work in the area where humans meet energy harvesting. We work with three main cases, 1) short-term energy management in electric vehicles, 2) long-term energy management in buildings, and 3) self-powered interactive devices based on energy harvesting.
Aims
Make it easier for people to manage and generate energy in their everyday life, in order to transform towards a more energy efficient, resilient, and sustainable society. In our work we focus specifically on contributing knowledge on how system could be designed better for people.
Approaches
We make design interventions, co-design with users, qualitative and quantitative studies in the lab and in the field. We work closely with energy engineers and end-users and often act as an interdisciplinary bridge between professions. In recent years we have also started conducting lab studies using Virtual Reality and technical work in the domain of energy harvesting. General approach is Energy-Sensitive Design which was developed by Anders Lundström in 2016.
Keywords
Energy Management, Electric Vehicles, Energy Efficiency, ICT, Interaction Design, Energy Systems, Energy Feedback, Visualization, Energy Harvesting, Human-Powered Interactions, Self-Powered systems
Links
Link to an article about “Electric car range displays and energy management while driving”
Link to article about “Human-Powered Interactions”
Project leaders
Cristian Bogdan (KTH Media Technology and Interaction Design /EECS) and Anders Lundström (KTH Media Technology and Interaction Design /EECS)
Other project members
Staffan Sandberg (KTH/MID/EECS), Elena Gonzales Rabal (KTH/MID/EECS), Lucas Ahlgren (KTH/MID/EECS), Ylva Fernaeus (KTH/MID/EECS), Charles Windlin (KTH/MID/EECS)
Other funding agencies
Energy Harvesting efforts are cofounded by Digital Futures (HumanScatter: Demonstrating Rich and Batteryless Human-Powered Interaction using Backscatter Communication, VF-2021-0082)
Virtual reality electric vehicle simulator to evaluate energy visualisations in critical scenarios
LinGen Self-powered interactive device (energy harvesting). When the users move the rod energy is generated and messages about the users movements are transmitted wirelessly.
