Pilot Testing with the Summer Flying By - Dante Navarro

I finished the final prototype for my data visualization application, so I can start the pilot study with participants from around imec.  During the pilot study I will begin to work on aesthetic features as well as more efficient user interaction for the application.  As a reminder, the application is the contextualization of stress values gathered from a wearable watch in the form of a calendar, map and weather application. 

Most of the application development and data analysis for this particular study are located in Ghent, where I have made several trips to present my application for feedback and showing new features that have been added throughout the development timeline.

The finishing touches were implemented, so now the application uses actual data in real time.  Around the office I have been asking users to utilize the Chill Band + (the wearable device that uses sensors to compute a quantitative stress value) to gather various data samples to populate the database I query for my application.

Beginning the pilot study with the Chill Band +

With my time here I have grown to accept the responsibilities of an independent project because the outcome is purely a function of the work and time that I put into the project.   Ultimately the design features that I chose to implement come from user testing that guides these decisions. I think this is unique to participating in STEM in an international setting because the motivation for the completion of a project seems to rely heavily on self-motivation rather than another outside motivating factor. Being part of a mostly coding project has provided me with tools that I will use in the future but ultimately, I feel like I would like to become a larger role in the product development pipeline such as the development of the hardware of wearable devices.

Understanding that the internship is coming to an end, I have made sure to appreciate the time that we have left here by spending it with good company.  During the Fourth of July many of our colleagues were gone, so the following week, we had a barbecue on the outside of our residence.  It was really an amazing way to socialize with people that we see every day in a non-work setting. 

Having a great time with imec co-workers at our BBQ