I'm not getting very far with it as I try and get in,
and I'm feeling that pressure against here,
that it's it's starting to get, starting to get a little bit painful,
and I think that this is about the point where I give up.
My name is Sam Waller and I'm an inclusive design researcher at the Engineering Design Centre here at the University of Cambridge.
Our research looks at diversity in the population and how the design of mainstream products can best
accommodate that diversity.
So we've just launched new versions of these Cambridge simulation gloves and glasses.
These are intended for anybody involved in decision making throughout the development of a product,
service or the built environment.
So people like designers or purchasers who influence the end outcome of the product,
and these gloves and glasses help those people better understand the extent to which the decisions
they make will benefit the diverse range of people in the population.
These gloves and glasses simulate reduced ability of the hands and of the eyes.
Now the hands and eyes are used to interact with almost everything you see and feel in the world.
So this includes things like technology products,
packaging, doors,
anything in the built environment.
So if we take any ability like vision,
this ranges from excellent vision to extremely poor vision.
Now there's a small number of people at each end,
and most of the people sit somewhere in the middle.
Now, if we look at this region here of people with very poor vision,
this is very specifically the target for assistive technology products.
Whereas mainstream,
everyday product would like to address the needs of this whole range.
However,
what you find is that people tend to design things so that they can use them themselves.
But as a typically young male designer,
they probably have reasonably good vision,
so sit somewhere around here.
Now if they are just about able to see it,
that means everybody with better vision than them will be okay.
But there's this whole range here of people who won't be
able to see it because their vision isn't quite as good.
So there's this gap here where there's large numbers of people who would benefit
from making it slightly bigger.
So here we're going to look specifically at plastic overwraps as a type of packaging.
Now, these are commonly found across DVDs,
chocolate, stationary,
that sort of thing.
And when I am confronted with this sort of package for the first time,
what I need to do is to try and look around the package to try and
find the starting point for how I'm going to think about getting in.
There is something there which is a strip that runs around the
outside here,
which indicates that might be a weakness that I could look at to start with.
And as I run my finger around that, I actually find this loose bit here,
which, as I then pull on that it actually goes extremely easily.
And then once this tear has started,
it's then very easy to get the product open.
So here I'm wearing three pairs of glasses,
which is set up to simulate the level
which is right on the borderline for... maybe I'll be able to drive,
maybe I wouldn't be able to drive. Now if I have a look at the product again while
wearing this level of simulated impairment.
Now, as I scan around the product,
I find nothing.
Nothing at all that would give me any indication as to where I should start on the packaging.
I can just about feel now that there's a corner of some
wrapping on this corner right here,
which I think if I attack at that corner,
I might be able to get in.
So I'm now going to try the same task again,
wearing our Cambridge Simulation Gloves. Now these have been designed to simulate
Arthritis of the knuckle joints,
which means that the more I rotate my knuckle joints,
the more it would hurt, and that's simulated on these according to the pressure of the plastic against
my knuckles here.
So if I now carry on trying to open these post-it notes,
I previously identified that there was a corner around here.
But as I'm picking away at it,
I'm not really getting,
not really getting very far.
And it's starting to hurt now,
as I'm as I'm feeling the pressure of this plastic on my fingers,
and I think that this is about the point where I give up and ask for help.
So we're hoping that mass market manufacturers will use the simulation gloves and glasses
during the development of their products in order to better inform the decisions that they make,
which will then give them competitive advantage because they have improved the user
experience within their products.
And it's better for the people in society because it helps people maintain their independent living for longer.