EXALT Design Lab, a unique partnership-based design research project

" For a school like Strate, companies and academics to work together on the issue of design is totally unprecedented," says Frédérique Pain, Director of Innovation and Research at Strate. Indeed, the school, which has its own design research laboratory, StrateResearch, and a team of four teacher-researchers, has brought together five industrial partners (Carrefour, EMAKINA, Inprocess, MAIF and OTIS), and two academic laboratories (the Co-Design Lab at Télécom ParisTech and the Centre de Recherche en Gestion at École Polytechnique) around the Exalt Design Lab project. The aim is to work on the creation of value through experience, and the promotion of design within companies. To achieve this, each industrial partner will host a doctoral student on a CIFRE* thesis. The five PhD students will be working on the production of theoretical models, process modeling and the development of in-house tools. " The aim is not so much to work on a concrete digital tool, but rather on the global challenges of new digital markets and the new forms of business organization that result from them", explains Frédérique Pain.

Workshops will also be organized throughout the project. Academics, companies and doctoral students will work together in this shared laboratory to put into practice, manipulate and test the tools developed by doctoral students in the course of their research. Other workshops will involve occasional external participants, with the aim of spreading the word about design in business. Finally, the seminar on the dimension of experience organized since 2015 by StrateResearch will complete the production of knowledge on these key topics.

The user experience as a design object

One of the specialties of the Strate design school's research department is the dimension of experience, a cross-cutting theme of the project. The concept is defined academically by Strate researcher Ioana Ocnarescu as " an extraordinary situation that unfolds over time and changes a person in a unique, conscious and memorable way". " The experience dimension is part of a global design approach, focused on the life experience of the user who uses an object or service," explains Frédérique Pain. This research will also focus on building a relationship of trust between company and customer, and the levers at work in the success of a user experience.

The project also aims to work on design in corporate design processes. " Historically, the way in which a product is designed has been directed by the engineering professions, which are different from, but also very complementary to, the design professions," asserts Frédérique Pain. The aim is to optimize product design methodologies by better integrating designers into teams.

By integrating designers into design processes and focusing on the creation of value through design, Exalt Design Lab seeks to raise awareness of the field of design among companies, which is, in Frédérique Pain's words, "the discipline needed to support companies in today's society, strongly impacted by the digital revolution."

* Industrial training agreement for research

**Softbank Robotics, All4Tech, Voxler, Spirops, CEA List, Armines - ENSTA ParisTech, Télécom ParisTech, association Approche, Inria, CNRS laboratories LAAS, LIMSI and LIRMM, Collège de France, UMPC ISIR, UVSQ LISV and Strate.

Romeo2, design for the elderly and disabled

Romeo, a robot to assist the elderly and disabled, was developed as part of the Romeo2 project, funded by BpiFrance and accredited by Cap Digital. 15 partners** collaborated on this project, including Télécom Paristech and the Strate design school. The aim of the design researchers was to develop usage scenarios for implementation in the robot. " We carried out fieldwork with patients in retirement homes and hospitals, observing them on a daily basis and understanding their needs," explains Ioana Ocnarescu, a design researcher at Strate.

Based on the work on Romeo, a more global questioning of assistance robotics was carried out: what kind of device would we like to have at our side in a situation of dependence? Is a humanoid form suitable? The researchers came up with a new prototype assistance robot, named Anubis. Its shape is a far cry from Romeo's: the robot is smaller, rides on two wheels, has long articulated arms and a dog-like head.

In collaboration with the Approche association, which brings together doctors and occupational therapists, the researchers then carried out a comparative study of Romeo, Anubis and Nao, a small robot developed by Softbank Robotics, with 72 people in retirement homes or hospitals. The patients were given the opportunity to express their feelings about the design of these machines. " Each robot had strengths and weaknesses linked to its overall design. For example, small robots like Nao were the most appreciated for certain types of interaction. Even though they looked like toys to the patients, the latter wanted to communicate with them and take care of them," emphasizes Ioana Ocnarescu. Beyond the question of machine form, the researchers were also able to highlight the effects that robotics could have on users' daily lives. In addition to the practical help robots can provide, the people interviewed emphasized that robots can have a positive impact on their self-image and social relationships.

Living-lab testing of the Pepper robot, with Strate researchers.

Last but not least, the research team worked on Pepper, the latest robot also developed by Softbank Robotics. " We built a living-lab where designers, doctors and engineers lived with Pepper robots for a week. Usage scenarios were written, based on the field data collected, " explains Ioana Ocnarescu. The robots then operated autonomously in real-life situations: 24 hospital patients each welcomed the robot for a week in their room. The experiment yielded new data, currently being analyzed, on the patients' experience and their longer-term perception of the assistance robots.

" This design research study opened up discussions with patients on notions that are sometimes difficult to express in medicalized environments: their daily lives, their values, their dignity..." asserts Ioana Ocnarescu. " We didn't try to imagine what they wanted, we went to meet them with open solutions, for a real dialogue with them."