the aging consumer - future by semcon # 3 2013

future by semcon

#3 2013

“The feeling of going really fast is addictive”

ANN-CHARLOTTE EKLUND

AFTER WORKname Ann-Charlotte Eklund.at work Project Manager in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry.after work Roller derby training.current challenge To get better at tackling harder!

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About me“I work a lot and spend a lot of my free time playing roller derby. Both training and getting involved in the voluntary aspect of the association. I’m 31 and live in Södermalm in Stockholm.”

About my job“I work as a project management consultant at a large pharmaceutical company. There I manage investment projects within tablet manufacture. I have been at Sem-con since 2009 and am very happy in what I do.”

About roller derby“About a year ago a friend told me that she had joined a roller derby team. It’s a full contact sport on roller skates, and it’s just girls playing. I follo-wed along and gave it a try and became hooked and bought skates from a girl there immedia-tely. The adrenaline rush, the game and the feeling of going really fast is addictive.”

What I’ve learnt from roller derby“For me, roller derby has been a great way to switch off from my job - a good complement to the daily grind at work. I also benefit at work from meeting many different kinds of people at roller derby. And as I’m a project manager at work, I think it’s inte-resting to go in and see how projects are run in an association where everyone works as a volunteer. There are many similarities with my job but at the same time it’s completely different.”

ABOUT: ROLLER DERBYRoller derby is a full-contact sport played on old-fashioned roller skates. The sport develo-ped in the USA in the 1920s and in recent years has spread as an underground movement to many countries over the world.Roller derby is based on five players on each team on an oval indoor track trying to win points through one player, the “jammer”, trying to run around the opposition, called “blockers”.

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HOW KATHERINE KUCHENBECKER WANTS TO FOOL OUR SENSES

POWERPAC – A REVOLUTION IN FUEL CELLS

KENTUCKY MAKES ASSA ABLOY’S ELECTRONIC KEYS CHEAPER

A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE ART OF CREATING THE FUTURE # 3 2013

THE GOLDENYEARS

TOMORROW’S 60-YEAR-OLDS WILL BE STRONGER BOTH

PHYSICALLY AND FINANCIALLY. HOW DOES THIS AFFECT SOCIETY

– AND HOW CAN WE PREPARE?

2 FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.2013

CONTENTS #3.2013ARTICLES IN THIS ISSUE OF FUTURE BY SEMCON

36 The key to updated manualsWhen Assa Abloy was streamlining its manuals for their electronic locks, they chose to work with Semcon, whose proprietary software saves both time and money.

FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.2013 3

32 MEET SEMCON’S SHARPEST MINDSIn Semcon Brains you can meet Daniel Carlsson, who ensures that everything from plasters to pacemakers work properly, Peder Alm, a specialist in embedded systems, and Zsófia Dali, who works in e-learning.

16 A SAFER FUTURE WITH HAND GESTURESUsing gestures has become a natural way to control our mobiles. Semcon investigates how we can use gestures to control things such as peripherals in a car.

Website: www.semcon.com Letters: Future by Semcon, Semcon AB, 417 80 Göteborg, Sweden. Change of address: [email protected] Publisher: Anders Atterling. Tel: +46 (0)70-447 28 19, email: [email protected] Semcon project manager: Madeleine Andersson. Tel: +46 (0)76-569 83 31, e-mail: [email protected] Editorial production: Spoon, spoon.se. Editor: Björn Jansson. Designer: Mathias Lövström. Repro: Spoon. Printing: Trydells Tryckeri, Laholm. Translation: Cannon Språkkonsult AB. ISSN: 1650-9072.

EDITORIAL

Preparing for the future

24 SEMCON MAKING ENERGY SUPPLY SAFERWhen ABB in Ludvika builds power supply systems for oil rigs they ask Semcon for help. Consultant Lennie Edman-Terning is in charge of testing of the control systems.

28 INTRODUCING TOUCH TO THE COMPUTER WORLDKatherine Kuchenbecker is one of the main research figures in haptic technology - a technology that feeds back to our sense of touch, and can make us believe that we are feeling things that don’t exist.

MARKUS GRANLUND, CEO, SEMCON

W ithin 40 years, the structure of the earth’s population will be quite different from how it looks today. The older people of

the community will be more numerous, healthi-er and financially stronger. When there is such a fundamental change in society, we have to keep up with the technological developments which follow.

In this edition of Future by Semcon we go in-depth with the latest population projec-tions and analyze what the effect may be - for us, for the world and its people in general. With this knowledge, we will be well-prepared in a future that we are ourselves creating. We also visit Osstell, a company that ensures dental implants succeed to a greater extent thanks to a world-leading measuring technique.

In this issue, we also visit Assa Abloy and talk about how we are helping them streamline

their operations. We also get a glimpse of how the fuel cells of the future are evolving and learn more about how testing works so as not to en-counter any surprises when a whole oil platform has to be supplied with energy.

Haptic researcher Katherine Kuchenbecker talks about how in the future we will be able to touch and interact with things that are not there. As usual, we also meet some of Sem-con’s experts, who offer a glimpse into how they create products and solutions for the future. 1


PEOPLE #3.2013PEOPLE IN THIS ISSUE OF FUTURE BY SEMCON

All industries need to take action to deal with – and benefit from – the changing population structure. Here’s what some of the people involved in this issue of the Future by Semcon are saying.

katherine kuchenbecker, associate professor of mechanical engineering and applied mechanics and computer and information science at the university of pennsylvaniaWhat significance can haptics have for the elderly?“The biggest area, I think, is physical therapy and rehabilitation - for example using Mi-crosoft Kinect 360. In my laboratory we have studied cost-effective solutions for tactile feedback, which is administered in the arm or any other body part in need of rehabili-tation. It could help patients regain a better feeling of coordination after a stroke.”

daniel carlsson, senior quality and project manager, semconWhich products do you think will appear and which will disappear within 40 years?“The wheelchair will disappear. In a few decades’ time, I believe there will be solutions allowing anyone to walk. When it comes to new products, I’m hopeful about artificial eyes. Vision is the ability to handle large amounts of data. There are already tools that allow anyone to hear, and I think that our aim should be that everyone should also be able to see.”

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peder alm, team manager and product developer within embedded systems, semconHow can embedded systems be designed to include the elderly in a better way?“I think the elderly currently feel that they can’t keep up - that they will be overtaken by technology. Society has undergone a technological revolution, and there has been a gap for many people over 50 today. I think there will be more, similar changes, and the challenge is then to consider the needs of the older generation, without compromising on technical development.”

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anders björklund, head of medical devices, semcon

What is the biggest challenge facing medical devices?

“It’s a combination of increased regu-latory requirements, focus on care at

home and more technological content in products. User-friendliness, software and apps which will be integrated into or with products. The question of how

personal integrity should be handled and weighed up against health benefits

is a challenge.”

zsófia dali, technical writer and e-learning consultant, semcon

What does the future of e-learning look like?“Like a natural part of everyday life. Technology has taken a quantum

leap and we have the latest glasses, which read our thoughts and project the information we need onto the nearest surface. Education

technology will adapt to the surroundings and we will learn things everywhere. We’ll just have to look around. It’ll be super-cool!”

anders petersson, operational manager, osstellWhat role will technology play in our dental health in 2050?“Teeth wear down and do not re-form like other tissues. As life expectan-cy increases, so does the demand for teeth - and dental implants - which last. Treatment methods will be quicker and safer. In nearly 40 years’ time, most people will be able to receive stable implants and go home and eat immediately after surgery. Technology will make treatment more precise and life easier for both the patient and the dentist.”

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A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

The world’s population is aging and these changes

are happening very quickly. This means major challenges for those who want to succeed in the future.

The key is in adapting products for the over-60s – but without making it so obvious that other

customers are scared off.TEXT MARCUS OLSSON

A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

FOCUS:THE AGING CONSUMER

The overhead lighting in the supermarket shines brightly. There is plenty of seating in

the aisles and all the goods on the shelves are at our fingertips. No customer needs to stretch to reach anything. There is no music being played: there is a slow tempo and a quiet atmosphere in the store. The staff take time, speak slowly

and inform customers in a friendly and simple manner. If there is no-one nearby, it’s easy to

follow the clear signs. The year is 2050, and the world and its societies have changed.


WITHIN 40 years, there will be over two billion

people over 60. This will be over one-fifth of the total population of more than nine billion. This group of people is growing five times quicker than the rest of the population. Now - in the 2050s - they are also even healthier and stronger, both physically and financially. These changes will have an impact on every industry on the planet.

“The interesting thing will be in seeing how demographic changes reshape the business landscape and pretty much every custom-er market, from retail to the production and development of customer products,” says Ajit Kambil.

He is head of global research at Deloitte, a

multinational auditing firm, and works with many of the world’s largest companies. Kam-bil was behind the research report ‘Wealth with Wisdom: Serving the Needs of Aging Consumers,’ a demographic study of the aging consumer. Thousands of people were inter-viewed for the report.

“We note that the world has never expe-rienced such a large demographic change in

such a short time. We looked at the numbers and research from economic, psychological, biological and social perspectives,” says Kam-bil, at Deloitte’s headquarters. He continues:

“In the past you didn’t have to think so much about the older part of the population. They didn’t live as long. Neither were their lives as independent. Many of the needs of my grandparents were looked after by their im-mediate family. If I look at myself, I’ll probably live more independently when I’m older than they did during the last part of their lives.”

In 2050, there will be more people over 60 than there will be young people under 16, according to a UN report. This has never happened before in history. A reduced birth rate in many countries and better food and

Population growthWorld population in 2013: 7.2 billionEstimated population in 2050: 9.6 billionSOURCE: UN

PHOTO: 123RF


medicines are among the reasons. But the cost of medical care, elderly care and pensions will increase exponentially. As more people continue working for longer, it will be more difficult for young people to enter the labour market. This also means lower tax revenues.

Dick Stroud has written a number of books about the aging consumer. His company 20plus30 Consulting helps companies market and sell products to the older generation.

“Decision makers at every possible level and position in the community have to cre-

ate awareness, whether they are politicians, officials or business leaders. When building or planning something, you have to have a particular type of end user in mind. However, those taking the decisions rarely think of the elderly, but instead about younger people.”

THERE IS A gap between reality and how most organizations make their decisions. Many large organizations and authorities are several steps behind in this development, according to Stroud.

“It’s not that they can’t read the bottom line - rather that they are wondering where to start. But the fact is that once an informed decision has been made, the path to the goal will be much simpler and straighter. Many things become more obvious. You just have to first get past the static friction and make things start moving.”

Britt Östlund is professor of welfare tech-nology at Lund University. She advocates a new approach to older people.

“There is a lot of discussion about the

The medical technology market is growing steadily. Demographic developments are leading to a

genuine focus on life science in general and medical devices in particular. The West no longer has an age pyramid, with a lot of young people and few old people. Instead, there are a lot of people aged between 35 and 65. The rest of the world is now following.

“If you are born in a developing

country, you will largely survive diseases which previously caused high infant mortality such as malaria. Instead, peo-ple nowadays live to an age when other diseases such as cancer become more common, requiring significantly more, long-term care,” says Anders Björklund.

Björklund is in charge of all of Sem-con’s medical technology services. This requires a holistic approach, combining experience in industrial design and

A question of life expectancy and qualityAnders Björklund and his experts at med-ical devices let proven industrial design shape the future of medical devices.TEXT JOHAN JARNEVING PHOTO LARS ARDARVE

TECHNOLOGY FOR AN AGING POPULATION


existence of many more older people and the fact that this will cost society a lot of money. Many people are wondering how we will be

able to solve all the future problems. This ap-proach is based on seeing an elderly person as a frail individual needing help with different

things. Certainly, many people will need help, but one new aspect is that we will live longer and healthier lives - and more of us will live longer,” Östlund says, continuing:

“The dominant approach toward the elderly today is a medical one - it is a downhill strug-gle, you fall ill and start to feel pain. Many don’t look at the person as a whole. Instead, you have to see the elderly as active individ-uals - even when they are ill or have disabil-ities.”

Dick Stroud is focusing on how physiologi-cal changes affect the older consumer.

“Companies today know little about how the physiology of the aging process affects the buyer. Frequently, no thought is given to marketing, presenting, selling and supporting products for older people. Impaired vision, hearing, feel and ability to learn affects how we act as consumers. The aspect which gets the least attention is the importance of the aging brain. By which I don’t mean the links to various diseases, but what happens to all of us over time. The vast majority of us are aware that eyesight deteriorates with age, but certain companies just think: ’well then, we’ll have to use a larger font on our website.’“

AJIT KAMBIL AT Deloitte thinks similarly.“One thing may be to remove distracting

stimuli. What we found in our research was that many environments - such as shopping - are too loud. Many consumers don’t like it, but music is still played in most shops and shopping malls. What companies and stores do not realize is that this particularly dis-tracts the elderly from doing what they came there to do - buy things.”

In the future, retail itself will be complete-ly changed, thinks Kambil. It is important to consider how to teach the customer about a product’s features and functionality.

“You have act more slowly than with a younger customer. It’s best to start with a

engineering with knowledge of the regu-lations within the industry.

“Medical device is in a class of its own with its specific legal requirements and we are a valuable guide to our customers. Internationally, it’s a real jungle with different rules and quality systems, even if the EU and the US are quite similar. Complexity is also a contributing factor in more companies outsourcing development work to ex-ternal experts.”

WITH MEDICAL ADVANCES, we are get-ting older, but we also need more care. Non-infectious diseases such as Alzheim-er’s, cancer and diabetes affect more peo-ple: 80% of us will die from these kind of diseases. Meanwhile, health care and aids are improving so that more people can both survive and live a worthwhile life with these diseases.

“The trend within medical devices is towards design and user-friendliness. As we get older, we may find it difficult to move but will still be able to cope. You can use such aids after a stroke, but can

also go around town without needing to go to hospital.”

THE OTHER CLEAR trend is within the op-portunities that IT provides. We are just at the start of the connected society.

“We’re already talking about proto-types which will make a quick diagnosis every morning and get an indication of someone’s general condition. The prod-ucts look more like a smartphone with a touchscreen and different apps rather than an old-fashioned blood pressure monitor. Since we work with other indus-tries, such as automotive and energy, we can cross-pollinate knowledge and learn across borders.”

Using the same logic as with the devel-opment of computers, when technology advances products become smaller and smarter. Electronics and software can be integrated into other types of medical device.

“It won’t be long before we’re monitor-ing and reporting our symptoms online through apps, smartphones and other technological solutions,” says Björklund 1

THE EXPERT

Anders BjörklundTitle: Head of Medical Devices at Semcon.

Life expectancy is increasingAccording to the UN report “World Population Prospects: The 2012 Revision”, average life expectancy worldwide will rise from the current 70 years to 76 years by around 2050. By 2100, it may be as high as 82 years, and in more developed countries 89.SOURCE: UN

MULTI-FUNCTIONAL WHEELCHAIRSemcon was hired by the company Etac to develop a man-

ufacturing set-up for a wheelchair aimed at the over-70s. Etac’s key words were “warm and human.”

The result is a product with fewer components and more multi-functional features. The wheelchair uses many parts cast

in aluminium, giving a lighter frame and a more energy-and cost-effective manufacturing process.


similar product that the customer already has, and then progressively increase knowl-edge of the new product, but relatively slowly. Vendors of the future will need to spend more time on individual customers.”

The 60-year-olds of 2050 were born in 1990.They will be more used to technology than elderly people are today.

However, both Stroud and Kambil see prob-lems in how today’s product developers work when developing new products and services.

Currently, it is the elderly who are forced to adapt to the products - and not vice versa.

“A great number of things we have around

us are anything but user-friendly,” says Kam-bil.” Just look at the different types of med-ication bottles. You have to press down and

A titanium screw which goes into the jawbone in order to keep an artificial crown in place. When

Professor Per-Ingvar Brånemark devel-oped this method - osseointegration - in the 1960s, to many people it must have seemed like science fiction. Now it is commonplace in most parts of the world and the implant is improving quality of life for thousands of people. And develop-ment is continuing.

A major step to simplify the treatment and increase precision was taken in the early 2000s. The medical technology company Osstell then started developing a measuring instrument to check the stability of the titanium screw.

“What we call a Smartpeg is attached to the implant and then sends the meas-uring instrument an electromagnetic pulse and measures the oscillations (fre-quency). We then convert it to our own

Tactile design for safer dental implantsA dental implant which fits perfectly from the start improves a patient’s quality of life and gives the dentist a better opportunity to evaluate his/her work. Osstell’s world-leading measuring instrument ensures that more implants are successful.TEXT JOHAN JARNEVING PHOTO LARS ARDARVE

scale, ISQ (Implant Stability Quotient), where 100 is rock solid and 1 is complete-ly loose. This information is crucial to obtain an objective view of the implant’s ability to bear loads,” says Anders Peters-son, COO and co-founder of Osstell.

The technology is extremely advanced and has a scientific basis. Now the major challenge for Osstell is to reach out to more of the world’s dentists.

“Worldwide, around 170 000 den-tists work with implants. Out of these, perhaps 100 000 work regularly with the technology. This compared to the 10 000 instruments we have sold since launch. We still have a lot of dentists to convince,” says Petersson.

IN DECEMBER 2012, the Korean implant manufacturer Mega Gen had a proposal for Osstell: Can you develop a unique design of your instrument for us? Could it be finished by the summer?

Osstell and the implant industry have interests in common, so Osstell’s man-agement immediately saw the potential of the project. Collaboration is a natural way of increasing awareness of Osstell’s technology. Anders Petersson got Sem-con involved and soon the first concept proposal was developed and the project was in full swing.

“With a schedule which was both clear and demanding, working methodically became even more important for us. We approached the goal step-by-step. From

concept and prototypes to design, testing and production. Now we’ve done it. Large-ly thanks to the extensive experience of the team and early dialogue with suppli-ers. The close collaboration between us and Osstell shouldn’t be underestimated,” says Jeff Smith, Semcon project manager.

FOR UNDERSTANDABLE REASONS, there are great demands on documen-tation and risk analysis with medical devices. With a dedicated quality engi-neer in the working group, Semcon could incorporate this work into the rapid prod-uct development. The result is extensive documentation which Osstell can utilize in future projects.

DENTAL HEALTH

This was the result when Semcon redesigned Osstell’s world-leading instrument.

COMFORTABLE KITCHEN APPLIANCESSemcon has been involved in producing a number of products for Ikea’s 365 series. These include a balloon whisk and a spatula,

both using easy-to-grip materials and design. An aging generation has been taken into account - the utensils

should be as easy to use for a 15-year-old as for a 70-year-old. The edge of the handle of the balloon whisk also

means that it is less likely to slip down in the pan and the spatula comes with an extra-wide base

which makes it easier to fry food such as fish or pancakes.



turn the cap to open them. This isn’t easy for someone with arthritis or rheumatism. Many companies today aren’t thinking of 80- or 90-year-olds when designing new products, but some are increasingly seeing this category as a potential market.

Dick Stroud:“I live in London and some time ago visited

one of its finest hotels, which had just under-gone a complete renovation. It was obvious that no one had considered that future guests

would be older. It wouldn’t have cost more to do it the right way from the start, i.e. more suitable for older customers. It’s small things such as seats being too high, or bad overhead lighting. People of all ages have to squint at the menu’s small lettering when ordering something to eat. In other words, it’s not just about designing for older people, but for any-one who can benefit from it.”

Ajit Kambil takes the travel industry as another example.

“I travel a lot myself for work and every time I’m on an aeroplane I think the same thing. All of the luggage hatches are above head height. Lifting heavy bags up high is quite difficult for many older people.”

BACK TO THE FUTURE. In 2050, there will be more models of car, with increased options and roomier interiors.

Carl Wellborn is a project manager and en-gineer at General Motors’ R&D department.

Besides the extensive formal require-ments, there were a couple of clear tech-nical requirements. The product had to have a charging station and certain con-nectivity. Otherwise, Semcon’s designers and engineers had a free hand.

The design concept is also based on a natural organic shape which fits com-fortably in the hand. The smooth display doesn’t just give a spotless impression:

it is also a hygienic feature that makes it easier to wipe the device.

TITANIUM IMPLANTS MAY have seemed futuristic when they were introduced in the 1960s, but will they be needed at all in the 2060s? By that time, tooth decay should be eradicated and everyone’s teeth should be in good condition.

“Well, we shouldn’t forget that there

are large differences between countries. In many parts of South America, Asia and Africa, bad teeth are widespread and it will take a long time to turn things around there,” says Petersson.

“Yes, and we are also getting older, and with age the need for dental implants increases,” says Svensson.

The implant market has been growing steadily since the 1960s and there is no

sign of reduced demand in the future. On the contrary, with more sophisticat-ed technology and improved methods, this treatment can benefit more people, especially in developing countries.

Through similar collaborations as that with Mega Gen, Osstell is well on its way to new markets, more dentists and ultimately more satisfied patients with stable implants. 1

Anders PeterssonOperational manager and co-founder, Osstell

Jonas SvenssonProject Manager, Medical Devices, Semcon


“We are working on a lot of things that I can’t talk about in detail. But the aging con-sumer will have a significant impact on our work and the products and services we devel-op,” he says.

“The biggest challenges are not actually technical but psychological. We have inter-viewed thousands of people and our results say that the thing most people are worried about is being less free. Having reduced ac-cess to services and products that they have used when younger - they fear that their lives will become less mobile.”

This creates challenges for every car man-ufacturer.

“Getting into and out of a car becomes more difficult when you are older. Most-ly because the user has changed physically, rather than cars being made differently today than previously. It’s mostly about a way of thinking. When you’re younger, you don’t even have to think about getting in and out. When you are older, your body reminds you. When we develop a model, we have to think about our customers to ensure that this does not become a problem. We are looking for solutions where aging does not inter-fere with the experience and use of the car. It should be just as easy to get in and out as always. Driving a car should be simple and flexible.”

SMALL CHANGES MAKE a big difference.“We have already made it easier to get in and

out of many of our models. One challenge is in maintaining the same high safety and crash tolerance as before. Another is that most peo-ple still do not want a car explicitly designed for the elderly or for people with physical disabilities. We are working to integrate those smart solutions which will make the car more accessible to older people, but without scaring away others who might be interested in it. It is about finding small smart features which won’t completely change the look and feel of the vehicle. There are solutions for those who really need them and will be helped by them. But everyone using the product will benefit from the improvements that have been made.

It is about making cars that are more “ag-ing-friendly” - but without making this too obvious.

Dick Stroud believes that one of the main tricks for capturing the aging consumer is to start early. There are fewer than 40 years left until 2050.Companies cannot afford to

make mistakes. Stroud uses Heineken as an example. The brewer is trying to reach older customers by tailoring and marketing beers targeted at the ages of 60, 65, 70 and 75.

“The paradox is that even if you need a

product specifically designed for a 60 year old, you don’t want to buy it. I am 63 years old my-self and don’t want to be reminded that all my senses are impaired and that a company feels sorry for me because of it. This paradox is one

Petter Dahlqvist is an interaction designer at Semcon. In his current assignment, he is at Volvo Trucks,

where he works on HMI - human-ma-chine interface - the user interface that links the user to the product. Petter be-lieves that his industry is facing a major challenge in the future, when the needs

of an increasingly elderly clientele have to be met.

“Today’s products for the elderly often have large buttons, a higher volume and an easily-recognizable interface. They are adapted for disabilities which are typical in the elderly, such as impaired vision and hearing, but also for the fact that the

Elderly people of the future more used to technologyAs the world population dramatically in-creases – and the group of people over 60 is the fastest-growing – Petter Dahlqvist believes that adapting products for older people will look radically different in the future.TEXT JOHANNA LAGERFORS PHOTO LARS ARDARVE

A CUSTOMIZED FUTURE

UNIQUE HEARING AIDOticon Medical wanted to develop a unique hearing aid without

compromising on either tolerance or quality. Moreover, it had to be user-friendly and intuitive, and available in both right- and left-ear versions. Semcon was hired for design work, surface design and also some plastic modelling. The result was the Ponto Pro

Power - an ergonomic product which also has an organic feel. Compared to the competition, the Ponto Pro Power

is a design revolution in the market, and can now boast to be both the world’s first fully digital and program-

mable bone-anchored hearing aid, and has been awarded the international iF Design Award.



of the biggest challenges for companies.”Others who need to increase the pace of

development are major organizations in both public and private sectors. The medical in-dustry will grow exponentially because of the large increase in elderly people. Many insti-tutions are slow in introducing technological innovations within their businesses, in part because of the costs involved.

“There are many tools just waiting to be de-ployed. If you visit a hospital in the UK today, much of the equipment is incredibly primitive compared to what is already on the market.”

THE MODERN TECHNOLOGY used in each and every person’s home could be transformed

from gaming and entertainment tools into as-sistive technology within care for the elderly and sick.

“A lot of things are happening on the tech-nological side right now. There are devices

which allow you to manage and control pro-grams on a screen just by using hand move-ments. For many older people, this is a very positive feature.”

Dick Stroud thinks the focus is wrong and

elderly are less tech-savvy than younger users,” he says.

In the future, Petter believes that the market will look different, not just because there will be more and more elderly people, but also because their ability to embrace new technology will be different then.

“The older generations of the future will have a completely different experi-ence of technology than today’s elderly. It will be natural for them to use tech-nology for a huge variety of purposes in everyday life - not just for errands and obligations,” he says.

HMI has great importance to how

user-friendly a product is, and how it is perceived by the customer.

“It’s fun working in interaction design because what you do is so important to the user experience. What we do is visible to the consumer.”

To do a good job it is therefore impor-tant to know the target audience and

the needs that they have. During his design engineering training, Dahlqvist wrote a thesis about developing hospital equipment aimed at the elderly and the disabled.

“The work was more about physical ergonomics than HMI, but these prelimi-nary studies increased my understanding of older users and their needs,” he says.

If the technology gap between the young and the old decreases in the future, it will be easier to produce products for wider audiences. The foundations of in-teraction design - such as simplicity, clear structures and recognition - are impor-tant no matter what age the users are.

“We are all people and actually have a fairly similar understanding and the same needs. However, to reduce the risk of scaring away older people with a complicated product, or younger people with something overly simple, in the future you can imagine offering settings allowing the user to customize the inter-face to the desired level of difficulty,” says Dahlqvist 1

THE SPECIALIST

Petter Dahlqvist Title: Interaction Designer, Semcon

“THE PARADOX IS THAT EVEN IF YOU NEED A PRODUCT SPECIFICALLY DESIGNED FOR A 60-YEAR-OLD, YOU DON’T WANT TO BUY IT.”

Dick Stroud, business strategist


is surprised that none of the major companies have tried to get to grips with the growing market in the area where care for the elderly and sick meets modern technology.

“A lot of energy is put into sexy technolo-gy and design rather than discovering tools to help the elderly. If you look at wheel-chairs, toilet seats and jars today, so much of the foundation of what is designed now is almost 50 years old. This is one thing that may change when the focus shifts to the older generation.”

Few companies have so far taken future changes genuinely seriously. But there are exceptions.

“Apple has succeeded. They were certainly not originally thinking of older people, but they succeed because they have a funda-

Gesture Concept is the collec-tive name for the company’s research and product develop-

ment within the sector.“We have received inquiries from cus-

tomers who want to work with gestures,

and this is our concept with which we explain how we see the capabilities and limitations of gestures,” says Anders Sundin. “It’s a way of demonstrating the potential of “in air gestures” and what it can do for a driver. This can include

How gestures will make everyday technology simplerGesture-controlled systems will be a common feature of many people’s every-day lives. Semcon’s work on future solu-tions is extremely advanced.

“The potential for development is enormous,” says Anders Sundin, head of Human Factors at Semcon.TEXT MARCUS OLSSON PHOTO SEMCON

MOTION CONTROL

reducing the risk of driving off the road. You shouldn’t have to look for a button in the car or feel with your hand - you should be able to make a gesture almost anywhere in the car. This will reduce the risk of visual distraction.”

GESTURES ARE UNLIKELY to completely replace the buttons common in today’s cars.

“No, not right now, anyway. Maybe in the long-term. But it’s best to have a physical back-up in most cases. Certain basic functions that people are used to will remain. It’s the most natural thing to use the indicator lever and this will probably stay and not be replaced by a wave. The gestures will be where they are useful, not where they hamper.”

In-air gestures can control the small simple things, such as a cupholder ap-pearing when a hand motion instructs it to do so, or a car door opening automat-ically when the driver is in a certain posi-tion and gesticulates in a certain way.

Semcon’s Gesture Action Based Infotainment (GABI) is a concept for controlling the infotainment system through “gestures” using the touch screen on a tablet. It has been developed through research by Semcon experts in interaction design.

GABI acts as an overlay in which the

driver can control the main functions of the system without having to look away from the road, no matter where in the system you are.

“The most common functions can be operated by simple gestures without causing visual distraction. It can also be used by different types of drivers. An elderly driver shouldn’t have to look for features in several menus and press things they are not used to. Not all elderly people have a smart phone, either. There is often a barrier preventing older people from using new technology available in cars. This is more of an area for younger people who already connect their phones and tablets in the car.”

Semcon has experts in areas such as ergonomics, interactive design, acoustics and cognitive science. They realise that gestures have huge potential in the future. In the cars of the future, much of this will be standard.

“This improves safety. That’s the most important thing. It’s also a unique selling point. This is something which improves the experience and could lead to increased sales. The user experience is what will determine whether you buy a car or not in the future. Gestures are one aspect which will make it feel comforta-ble and enjoyable to buy a new car.”

In the future, reactions to stress or

SELECTAThe Ferrara coffee machine received attention at several trade shows and had favourable reviews. Semcon was hired

for a feasibility study, design work and technical support - the goal was that the coffee machine should be used by

everyone - young and old. Furthermore, it had to adapt to different customer needs. It is a coffee machine with a

dual brewer which brews both with and without pressure so that the user can choose anything from traditional

Swedish freshly brewed coffee (without pres-sure) to a perfect espresso (with

pressure).



mental philosophy that works. This in-cludes everything from their clean and bright homepage to how they design their stores, showcase their products and, finally, to how user-friendly their products are. They think about the whole customer experience. If you optimize the customer experience, you will also be able to reach the older consumer.

AT KEARNEY IS a global management consultan-cy firm. They have also carried out studies on the aging consumer, and have found a number

of successful examples. Mike Moriarty is one of the partners and also co-author of the re-port “Understanding the Needs and Conse-

quences of The Ageing Consumer”.“We may live productive lives until we are

over 100. Some research says that we may live

danger could be used to develop future safety systems in cars. Sensors will be able to read body language, sudden movements and even facial expressions.

“I genuinely believe in these active safety systems, where you can capture the intent of the driver. You help the car to act,” says Sundin.

For example, if you have to stop suddenly the system will quickly detect the sudden movement of your foot to

the brake, or that you have responded in a way that you wouldn’t normally otherwise.

BUT THERE ARE Challenges. New fea-tures in cars mustn’t become a source of distraction, says Sundin. The driver’s first priority is to drive the car safely.

“You shouldn’t be allowed to influence the car unduly with a gesture - if you scratch your ear, for example. Controlling

unintentional gestures is a challenge. Another is learning the gestures, es-pecially if they are a lot of them. It will always take a certain amount of time to learn - that’s probably inevitable. So it’s important to have support instructions which you can then opt out of after learning. You need some sort of guidance - at least the first time you use this new type of interactivity.”

Another Semcon project is SEMar-

beta, a support tool controlled by hand gestures and a touch screen. SEMarbeta is an application which makes use of smartphones’ and tablets’ cameras and touchscreens.

“The point is to bridge cultural and language barriers when you need help in different situations. In certain situations - for example, if you are sick at home or if the car has broken down in an awk-ward place - talking on the phone is not enough,” Sundin says, continuing:

“Using a smartphone or tablet, you should be able to demonstrate using gestures in order to get help. With SEMarbeta you can draw and video, and the “help” - which can be anything from a hospital to a garage depending on the situation - can guide you and show you what to do. It has great potential in areas and situations where there is insufficient support right now. This is part of the future, precisely because it’s so intuitive. We have used gestures for thousands of years. They have always been there to help us guide and explain. It’s just that previously there haven’t been any good tools for this.

The next development stage is a re-search project together with customers and partners in Switzerland. 1

“IT’S REALLY QUITE FASCINATING THAT WE DON’T HAVE BETTER PACKAGING AND LABELLING OF FOOD PRODUCTS EVEN THOUGH THEY HAVE BEEN IN SHOPS FOR OVER 150 YEARS.”

Mike Moriarty, partner, AT Kearney

SEE THE VIDEO ON YOUTUBESemcon’s Gesture Concept explained in about three minutes.


as long as 300 years, but this is so far ahead that it is difficult to truly grasp. But there are consequences. The companies that are quickest to take advantage of this will be the winners of the future. Currently, dealers are at the forefront while the manufacturers are waiting to see what the dealers do.”

Moriarty also thinks that there is a huge potential market in the over-60s.

“There are many examples of developing areas. It’s really quite fascinating that we don’t have better packaging and labelling of food products even though they have been in the shops for over 150 years. We will see continued improvement there. The American

company Bumble Bee is one company to have had a rethink. They have created new plastic packaging instead of the cumbersome cans which we have become used to.”

Retail companies have also started change programmes. They are building stores which are inclusive for all of society’s age groups and generations.

“It is a fact that an improvement for a 65-year-old is usually also an improvement for younger people. A 30-year-old mother will also appreciate plenty of space between shelves and seating to rest from time to time.”

The american company Walmart has in-vested in clearer signs and better lighting.

ALARM CONTROLAscom wanted to develop a new handset for bed-rid-den patients and asked Semcon to help. Semcon studied how patients use - and experience - their

handsets, and produced a set of four different units, designed for different target groups with different

requirements. It was very important that it should be understood equally well by children and adults of

different ages. Moreover, it was robust, easy to grip and easy to wash. Semcon designed the handset and delivered a

form-specific CAD system. The result is an ergo-nomic device that can be relied on in

every situation.

The world’s largest economies in 2050By 2050, China will have long since overtaken the US as the world’s largest economy. Then, 30% of Chinese people are expected to be 60 years old or older. 1. China (2)2. USA (1)3. India (10)4. Japan (3)5. Germany (4)Current position in brackets.SOURCES: CNN, UN AND HSBC

“IT IS A FACT THAT AN IMPROVEMENT FOR A 65-YEAR-OLD IS USUALLY ALSO AN IMPROVEMENT FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE. A 30-YEAR-OLD MOTHER WILL ALSO APPRECIATE PLENTY OF SPACE BETWEEN SHELVES AND SEATING TO REST ON FROM TIME TO TIME.”

Mike Moriarty, partner, AT Kearney


“I can name many more companies, such as Walgreens in the US and Alliance Boots in the UK. L’Oreal is also a company invest-ing in order to reach an older client group. They have thousands of scientists work-ing on developing products for the elderly. They have also invested in the marketing of their products, using older people in their advertising. In the US, Diane Keaton is the face of the company, and she’s almost 70 years old.”

THE BIG CORPORATIONS’ initiatives have an im-pact on society as a whole, thinks Moriarty.

“What they do matters. Changes to their

shops inspire and more or less force author-ities to make changes. This is about entire cities emerging and how authorities approach urban development. This will lead to our cities adapting in order to be more accessible and open to an aging population.”

EXPERTS ALREADY KNOW a lot about the future and life in 2050 - and how companies need to think in order to achieve success.

“I hope we will have a more realistic and positive image of an aging person as an ex-perienced individual,” says Britt Östlund. “Then I hope that we will have developed methods to make the technology work in

practice. If we are to succeed in creating products or services, we have to ask what it means to live a modern older life. Then you can’t come out with stereotypes such as that everyone is equal.”

Ajit Kambil is sure that the focus will shift from capturing 20-year-old consumers to at-tracting them over a 60-year-period.

“The most important question to ask your-self is how to develop a product that an older person would want to buy and use. You have to be aware that an older person will perceive a product in a completely different way from the other younger customer groups that it is also aimed at.”

photo: 123RF


THE SOLUTIONHOW SEMCON SOLVED THE CUSTOMER’S PROBLEM

ASSIGNMENT: Elos Fixturlaser gave Semcon an assignment to develop the next generation of axel alignment systems for a variety of clients from wind power to the paper industry. The task was to further improve the quality and user experience to new levels.

SOLUTION: Since Semcon also designed the previous version, the challenge was to retain what worked and continue developing its user-friendliness, robustness and interface. Meanwhile, Semcon wanted to create a design that demonstrated the same straightness and sharpness provided by the system. During the largely brand-oriented development work, Semcon provided industrial design, engineering, production support, interface design and images for marketing.

RESULTS: Using a user-friendly touchscreen, a new interface and two laser-based measuring devices, the Fixturlaser NXA Pro is more effective than ever. At the same time, the device is as easy to use as a smartphone. With animated 3D graphics, colour-coded measurement results and an icon-based user interface, Semcon and Fixturlaser have taken a big step into the future of axel alignment systems.TEXT OLLE RÅDE PHOTOS FIXTURLASER

On track with lasers


CLARITY

Clearly marked moving and stationary laser devices reduce the risk of error when connecting the system.

QUICK START

The measurement area which the laser beam hits has a high contrast to find the correct default settings quickly.

STABLE

Materials and design which exude robustness combined with quality and precision.

FLEXIBLE

Thinner laser devices enable measurements in narrower spaces than previously.

CLEAR INTERFACEAn animated 3D interface enhances clarity and simplifies the management of advanced measurements. The actual po-sition of the motor and mea-surement units is displayed on the interface by using a gyro.

ALWAYS READY

A battery indicator means that you can easily ensure the system’s batteries are charged be-fore taking a measurement. This is done with the touch of a button without having to boot up the system, saving time and reducing the risk of disrupting complex measurements.

EASY ADJUSTMENT

Clamps to ensure height adjustment of the laser units in relation to each other is quick and easy.


Powercell’s Powerpack is in here.


Andreas BodénDevelopment manager, Powercell

Robert EliassonAccount manager, Semcon

Fuel cells for green electricity are moving from the lab to everyday life at a fast pace. Powercell is one of the players

driving this development. They have been collaborating with Semcon since 2008 in an exchange of skills where the whole

proved to be greater than the individual parts.TEXT JOHAN JARNEVING PHOTO ANNA SIGVARDSSON

In a secluded industrial area in Göte-borg, the energy source of the future is taking shape. Here, the energy technology company Powercell is de-veloping its own patented technology for the environmentally-friendly and

energy-efficient generation of electricity from fuel cells.

Their latest innovation is called Powerpac – a minor revolution which transforms ordinary diesel into hydrogen gas, which then powers a fuel cell.

The technique is based on a combination of diesel reforming which transforms diesel into hydrogen and a fuel cell which converts hydrogen into electricity using air.

THE RESULT IS a quiet, clean and cost-effective way to provide cell-phone towers in the desert with electricity, for example. The technolo-gy can also be used to power air conditioners and refrigerators in trucks, reducing unneces-sary engine use. Powerpac is also suitable in a number of other fields where the clean and efficient generation of electricity is important.

Powerpac was demonstrated to the press and the market earlier this year and is now ready for the next stage: field testing and in-dustrialization.

Semcon has worked closely together with Powercell for some time, from the pure research stage to the present, when the tech-nology is mature enough to begin optimi-zation for industrial manufacturing. It is a collaboration that both parties have learned a lot from.

POWERCELL HAS IN-DEPTH expertise in fuel cells and has thus served as a kind of school for Semcon. For its part, Semcon has all the tech-nical consultancy skills Powercell needs in their own organization.

“I see Powercell as a ‘preferred customer’. Our knowledge develops their processes while we ourselves develop in a new and strategical-ly important area. A successful cross-fertili-zation of skills,” says Robert Eliasson, account manager at Semcon.

Semcon has supported Powercell through the various stages of development. Construction (both mechanical and electronic), prototyping, visualization, control engineering and indus-trial design are some of the specialist services that Semcon has brought to the project.

Andreas Bodén is development manager at Powercell. He is happy to emphasize how the different specialists have worked together to achieve this success.

“We complement each other and have great confidence in each other’s expertise. We all speak the same language, which is especially important when pressed for time,” he says.

There is a certain scope to the collabora-tion between Powercell and Semcon. So far they have only scratched the surface, and new projects are constantly arising during the course of the development. For Semcon, the collaboration goes hand in hand with strategic investment in energy efficiency in transport. It is a textbook example of a strong partnership: shared expertise and a shared commitment to the future.

POWERCELL IS AT an advanced stage of devel-opment and has several research projects in the pipeline. When President Obama visited Sweden in September, eco-technology in general and fuel cells in particular were one of the themes of his schedule. Powercell’s S1 fuel cell was another of the innovations which the president looked at more closely during his visit to KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

THE WORLD IS waiting for fuel cells - and Pow-ercell is going to get us there faster than we think.

FUEL CELLS OF THE FUTURE


Statoil’s Troll A platform in the North Sea supplies large parts of Europe with energy. But to work it needs its own power supply, a job where Semcon is responsible for the testing.TEXT OLA LILJEDAHL PHOTOS KRISTOFER SKOG & ABB

SAFE ELECTRICITY AT SEA


In the middle of the North Sea, among waves and icy winds, stands the Troll A oil platform, ultimate proof that man has succeeded in mastering the fifth element. With a height that overshadows the Eiffel Tower, the

platform, when it was towed 38 nautical miles in 1995, became the largest building ever moved.

The opening ceremony took place, ap-propriately enough, on 17 May - Norway’s national day.

The name Troll A comes from the gas and oil field Troll located on the Nor-wegian continental shelf. Troll accounts for about 40% of all gas reserves on the Norwegian continental shelf and is one of the cornerstones of Norwegian gas pro-duction.

ONE OF MANY challenges with oil rigs is energy supply. Statoil, which owns and operates Troll A, has chosen to use two HVDC (High Voltage Direct Current) links from ABB for this purpose. ABB is a world leader in HVDC transmission technology, which transfers power with lower losses compared to the conventional alternating technique. The first agreement between ABB and Statoil dates from 2002.

With new environmental directives and a continued strong demand for exports, Statoil faces new challenges. It is overseas, mainly to Germany, Belgium and France, where the gas is exported.

“Norway uses virtually no gas itself, but the Norwegian government has contracts to deliver a certain quantity of gas every month to Europe,” says Jarno Väkiparta, project manager at ABB. He continues:

“There is always natural pressure in the reservoir when you start to extract gas from the sea. After a while the pressure decreases. In this case, we then employ two compressors, which were delivered by ABB in 2005.”

The compressors ensured that Statoil could maintain desired production capac-ity - at least until the end of 2010. Now, work is starting once again on upgrading performance, something that can be done in several ways.

SOME OF THE options evaluated involved powering compressors with gas turbine turbines or diesel engines. Both meth-ods would involve emissions. The HVDC alternative is different and transfers envi-ronmentally-friendly hydroelectric power from the mainland.

With the fact that emission standards have become tougher in the Norwegian oil and gas industry, in the end the HVDC


links were chosen. ABB thus received a new order from Statoil worth about 270 mil-lion US dollars, which comprises two new compressor drive systems which will help increase the flow in the pipeline. ABB will deliver two high-voltage DC transmission systems, as well as an HVDC converter and submarine cables to ensure a reliable power transmission from land to the platform.

SEMCON HAS BEEN chosen to work on the test-ing of the control systems on the HVDC links Troll 3 and Troll 4.

“The project is taking place both here in Ludvika, where all the components are con-nected to a simulator, and then on site, where we have to get what works in theory to work in practice,” says Lennie Edman-Terning, commissioning specialist at Semcon, who has been responsible for the testing.

First, tests will be done in Ludvika. New testing then will be performed on site in

Norway and 38 nautical miles offshore.“It’s only there that we’ll know for sure

whether all the studies and all the parame-ters in the simulation environment have been correct, or if we need to adjust the control equipment settings to get everything to run smoothly,” says Edman-Terning.

He says that this is a unique project, just like every HVDC project. Each customer has their own unique needs, and technology

moves so fast that there is another form of control system on the new link compared to the ten-year-old one.

“It’s very different to the automotive in-dustry, where I come from. Everyone has their own subjective opinion about a car - how it should be, feel and act. But no one has any opinion about what an HVDC system should look like as very few apart from us working on them know what it is about.”

Jarno Väkiparta stresses the importance of Lennie’s work, both in Ludvika and Norway.

“Right now a module and a land station are being built on two different sites. One in Kollsnes and one in Haugesund, where Lennie will be responsible for the commissioning of the control and protection system.”

IN THE SUMMER 2014 the module will be trans-ported from the mainland to the Troll A plat-form and by 2015 everything will be finished and in operation. 1

About: HVDCHVDC technology is available in two variants, HVDC Classic and HVDC Light. HVDC Classic was first used when Asea built the Gotland link in 1954. HVDC Light was developed by ABB in the 1990s, and is the technology used in the work on Troll 3 and Troll 4. HVDC Light offers numerous environmental benefits, such as “invisible” power lines, neutral magnetic fields, oil-free cables and compact converter stations.

Jarno VäkipartaProject Manager, ABB

Lennie Edman-TerningCommissioning specialist, Semcon


BREADMAKEROBH NORDICA INOX 6544

“It’s fun to bake bread properly, but when you don’t have much time a breadmaker is a great alternative. You put all the ingredients in the bowl and set the time when you want it to be ready. And then you wake up to the smell of freshly-baked bread in the morning. A great luxury! One loaf is enough for breakfast for the whole family at home, plus it’s really easy to clean and you don’t get flour all over the kitchen.”

SOFHIA JOSBORGTECHNICAL INSTRUCTOR, SEMCON

INTERESTS: Yoga, dance and playing with my kids.LAST GADGET PURCHASED: A stand-on board for the pram, for children.

GADGETS I LIKE

ICE-CREAM MACHINEPHILIPS HR2304

“I love ice-cream, and with my ice-cream machine I can make my favourite recipes and experiment with new ones. It’s used a lot, especially in the summer, which is also appreciated by my children, and our neigh-bours, and our neighbours’ children ... It’s a real source of happiness!”

MOBILE PHONE AND HEADPHONESIPHONE 5

“Just like many other people, it’s the gadget I use most every day. I listen a lot to music and radio, and watch documentaries and se-ries. Before I went on maternity leave I com-muted for three hours a day. The mobile has saved many rainy days on the train.”

FOT

O: P

ÄR

PE

RS

SO

N

TRAINERSNIKE AIR MAX 90

“I have a weakness for smart trainers - either in bright colours or a more classic white. These are stylish and your feet feel good - you can easily take long walks in them.”

“It’s really fun to ride off-road, I like to go fast.”

BICYCLENISHIKI XC5 CROSSHYBRID

“With a good, fast bike I can get where I like in town, but it also works on trails in the woods – it’s really fun to ride off-road, I like to go fast. It’s also an eco-friendly way of getting about, and I get fit-ter into the bargain.”


Q&A KATHERINE KUCHENBECKERHAPTICS EXPERT

Today, with the help of technology, we can now see and hear what’s happening on the other side of the world. Now, haptics expert Katherine Kuchenbecker wants to add another sense to the equation and make it possible to use touch over long distances.

atherine Kuchenbecker has always been a hands-on kind of person. But as a leading authority in the exciting and still relatively new research area of haptics, the things she touches may not actu-ally be there. Or it might be a robot that is doing the touching for her. Kuchen-becker, who is Associate Professor of Mechanical En-

gineering and Applied Mechanics and Comput-er and Information Science at the University of Pennsylvania, researches the design and control of systems that fool our sense of touch, making it possible to feel virtual objects or far-off environ-ments as though they were right in front of us. Fooling our sense of touch in this way, through the use of electromechanical sensors, actuators and high-speed computer control, has many interesting applications, from personal robots

and tablet computers to robot-assisted surgery and stroke rehabilitation. Kuchenbecker spoke to Future to discuss why robots need a sense touch, how she can take a physical snapshot of – and then recreate virtually – an object’s surface, and when we can expect to feel the keys on our smartphone screens.

What is so interesting to you about our sense of touch?

What intrigues me about the sense of touch is that we know much less about it than vision or hearing, which are the other two main senses that we use to interact with our surroundings. The sense of touch is fundamental to human interac-tion with the world, and you can’t turn it off. As a mechanical engineer, someone who was always fascinated by how things move and how things work, I am captivated by haptics because that is where the physical world encounters an intel-ligent agent, be it a human, a robot, or another organism. From a family perspective, my father is

TEXT DAVID WILES

PHOTOS DAVE MOSER

K


Katherine KuchenbeckerPosition: Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Applied Mechanics and Com-puter and Information Science at the University of PennsylvaniaHobbies: Scuba diving and dancingWhat was the last book you read, and what did you think of it? Mistaken Identity by Lisa Scottoline. I had fun trying to figure out the sto-ry’s twists and turns, and, as with Scottoline’s other books, I liked learning more about the city where I live – Philadelphia!What haptics-enhanced device are you most looking forward to having in your everyday life? I’d love a haptic interface that lets me pet my cat, Toby, when I’m traveling.


a surgeon and works with his hands every day to try to save people’s lives, and my moth-er is a professor of research psychology, a scholar who studies humans; haptics is a nice intersection between those two, with a bit of technology mixed in.

How would you explain haptics to the uniniti-ated?

Haptics centres on touch interaction. When you manipulate everyday objects, you feel forces, contacts, vibrations, and temperature changes on your hand. We want to endow human-computer interfaces with the same richness of haptic sensation. As a haptics en-gineer, I am developing devices and software that fool the human sense of touch so that the user can interact with virtual objects or ob-jects that are distant and feel as though there is really something there – even though it is just a computer program.

Some of our other haptics research focuses on a robot touching real objects. We want to make the robot good with its hands so that it can clean up your kitchen or feed your cat and do all the things we would love a helper to do. Doing those tasks requires the robot to have a very good sense of touch, just as it would need a very good sense of vision and an ability to hear and process sounds.

Why is this an important field of research?The sense of touch is so important for

everyday human interactions. I think it is easy to underestimate the value of high-quality haptic feedback. The sense of touch is a pri-vate and salient and easy-to-interpret chan-nel for receiving information. As more inter-actions are mediated by technology, I think we need to think about creating interfaces that deliver haptic sensations to humans, because that is the kind of environment that humans are naturally adapted to: physical objects that provide forces and contact sensations instead of virtual objects that may only be visual ele-ments on a screen.

How do you capture how an object feels?Many researchers have worked on this

problem of how to create synthetic haptic feedback to give the user the compelling il-lusion that they are touching something that isn’t there. What we have done differently is to make a device like a touch-based camera that can record real data during interactions with objects. While a standard camera can record everything the eye might see, we cre-ate instruments that can record everything a

Q&A KATHERINE KUCHENBECKERHAPTICS EXPERT


human hand would feel. Our haptic record-ing device can measure exactly how much force you’re applying and which direction you are pushing on things. We know exactly where the tool is in space and what its ori-entation is, and then we can measure the high-frequency vibrations, the shaking back and forth, the subtle shock that occurs at the start of contact. Even though your fingers are not in direct contact with the surface when using a tool like this, you are able to understand its roughness and its texture and what the surface is made of. Then we have created a set of software algorithms to ana-lyse the data and process it and turn it into a compact representation of the surface so that you can touch a virtual version through one of our custom haptic interfaces.

How does the user experience haptic technology?Just the other day I felt the very first ver-

sion of our texture models on a 3-D object. My students made a sphere that you cannot see but you can reach out and touch through a small device that sits on the desk. You hold a stylus in your hand, and as you drag across the surface you can feel these da-ta-driven surface texture models. They were able to make it feel like a blanket or a piece of cork or a piece of metal – we have 100 different textures! The way it works is that when you hold the tool still, you just feel the stiffness of the surface, but then as you drag it along you feel two things: you feel

friction, the resistance to the motion of the tool along the surface, and you feel the tex-ture, the quick changes in vibration, the back and forth shaking of the virtual tool tip as it travels across the little ridges and valleys of the surface. Those three forces together give you a very compelling illusion that you’re touching a real surface.

So that involves using a tool. What about in-teracting with the virtual world with our bare hands?

I’m really interested in moving into direct finger interactions with surfaces. It is really challenging to recreate touch sensations for a human to feel, so now we are focused on giv-ing a robot better touch intelligence. We put a

pair of fingertip sensors on a humanoid robot called Graspy and taught him how to touch objects and then describe them with adjec-tives that a human might use: ‘this feels fluffy and soft’ or ‘this is rough and unpleasant’.

Where is the haptics field going?I can imagine what we are going to be doing

next month, and somewhat imagine what we will be doing next year. But beyond that, it is hard to say. Now we are seeing a lot more push towards tactile interfaces, towards bare-finger interaction, towards creating tem-perature feedback. And we could be heading towards a lot of interesting wearable hap-tic interfaces and mobile devices; as you are walking around the city you could be getting haptic clues telling you which direction you ought to turn.

What about mobile applications?In the mobile field there is some very cool

research. One approach is to change the coef-ficient of friction between your finger and the screen. They do this by vibrating the screen very quickly, which makes your finger skate across the screen very easily. And when they stop, the glass feels rather sticky. So they can modify how easy it is for your finger to slide across the screen over time and over space to give you the illusion that you are touching something rough or maybe make the buttons sticky so your finger stays on the buttons and glides in other areas. Disney Research is working on electrically attracting your finger to the screen so it is harder for it to move. There is a lot of work that can and is being done in this area. But I would say that direct haptic feedback on mobile devices is still a ways off because it is tough to integrate such technologies into tiny packages. 1

“The sense of touch is fundamental to human interaction with the world, and you can’t turn it off.”

Katherine Kuchenbecker, Haptics expert

Which areas would stand to make most from haptics?

1 MEDICAL TRAINING AND SKILL ASSESSMENT FOR SURGEONS:I see great potential for haptics in medical

simulation and training. In my own lab we have been studying how providing haptic tool vibration feedback during robotic surgery training benefits residents, and we have been able to show that it does seem to really help them learn to do a procedure faster. When will all surgical trainees be using a haptic simulator? Possibly within five years, but it’s hard to say.

2 MOBILE DEVICES/TABLETS: We have so many screen-mediated interac-tions, and there is so little haptic feedback

there now because it is a tough technological

problem. The richness of your phone’s haptic sensa-tions falls well short of its richness of graphical and audio feedback. It is about space and power con-sumption and getting the hardware and software to react fast enough and to present a rich array of haptic signals. Samsung is heavily investing in haptic technologies and they see this as an area where they could beat Apple. I think we will see a slow evolution.

3 GAMING: I love the Wii and the Kinect. With the Wiimote when I hit that virtual tennis

ball, I do feel something and I do hear a sound that increases the illusion that I just hit a tennis ball. But there is a lot of potential for haptic technology to make gaming systems even more compelling. It is all about immersiveness. It needs to improve, and it will.


TEXT JOHANNA LAGERFORS & JOHAN JARNEVING

PHOTOS MIKAEL GÖTHAGE, ANDERS DEROS & ISTVAN LABADY

SEMCON BRAINS


The quality expert

“IF A COMPANY carries out its quality work in a sensible way, then it becomes successful. This view has always been reflected in my work.”

So says Daniel Carlsson, who has an M.Sc. in chemical technol-ogy and whose main field of ex-pertise is quality assurance within medical device.

During the 35 assignments he has had as a consultant, Daniel has worked with pacemakers, hearing aids, dental products, imaging equip-ment, and anaesthesia machines,

among others. “Helping the custom-er with exactly what I’m good at is a great responsibility. For me, the challenge is to see things from both the customer’s and the end user’s perspective.”

A great deal of quality work in medical device is about risk mini-mization - creating machines and aids that are safe for patients. For a number of years, there has also been a directive that dictates all medical device products should be user-friendly.

“It simplifies doctors’ work and minimizes the risk of error. Historically there have been accidents where healthcare professionals in stressful situations have turned a switch up in-stead of down. Such things shouldn’t be allowed to happen,” he says.

Recently, he visited the dentist, who scraped off tartar with a new device which was less unpleasant than usual.

“It made a big difference for me as a patient, and I try to take such experiences with me to work. Product development which

focuses on the customer’s needs inspires me,” he says.

He also thinks that risk mitiga-tion leads to opportunities for new innovations.

“When you have to consider risks users may be exposed to, it creates new solutions. Sometimes brand new features emerge - an example from the automotive industry that every-one can relate to is when the airbag was invented to minimize the risk of crash injuries for passengers. Today, airbags are standard in all cars.”

daniel carlsson, senior quality and project manager, semcon sweden

FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.20103 33FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.2013 33

BEHIND THE SCENES WITH SEMCON BRAINSWant to know more about Daniel, his work and the challenges he has faced at Semcon? See the film at semcon.com.


“I WENT INTO embedded systems be-cause I think it’s more fun to work on a combination of hardware and software.”

This is what Peder Alm, an engineer who works as a product developer at Semcon Embedded & Electronics in Göteborg, thinks.

Here, customers are helped to devel-op competitive products by offering specialist expertise in a range of areas, such as software, hardware, architec-ture and dynamic control systems.

An increased need for connectivity and flexible products places great demands on technological develop-ment. His job is usually to programme the systems of new products after the designer has decided which features should be in the menus. It has given him a passion for products with dis-plays, he says.

“I like visual things - working with what you can see. Sometimes it’s about making it easier to get constructive feed-

back from the users of the product.”Alm appreciates the variety that comes

with the consultant role - that he some-times works at Semcon and sometimes onsite with the customer.

“Most of the time you change assign-ment every year or two, which means that you are always fairly new and thus try a little harder,” he says.

He received his most recent assign-ment thanks to a former client calling with an assignment for his new employ-

er. His contact network is growing over time, creating more and more opportuni-ties for interesting assignments.

He works part time as team manager, which he thinks is good as it allows him to continue with the technical aspects. He is responsible for personnel matters but not for sales.

“The arrangement is great for me. As I haven’t been a manager before and am not a trained salesperson, it’s nice to be able to take one step at a time.”

The expert in embedded systemspeder alm, team manager and product developer within embedded systems, semcon sweden

SEMCON BRAINS


FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.20103 35FUTURE BY SEMCON 3.2013 35

IT’S EASY TO tell that Zsófia Dali has found the right career. She is driven by a true passion for lifelong learning and has a keen interest in de-sign - characteristics that come to the forefront in her role as developer of Semcon e-learning solutions.

“It’s all about knowledge transfer and com-munication. A learning process which is not affected by the subject or industry. My task is to sift through the information, pick out the most important parts and present it in various inter-active interfaces. The learner should be enticed to click through and learn more.”

She has a degree in teaching and has worked on e-learning in multinational organizations. She has been at Semcon for nearly two years and sees the growing potential of e-learning.

“Development is in its infancy. Many still have an inaccurate view of complex technolo-gy and cool design that we have to overcome. Good e-learning is based on simplicity and technology that works for the user.

E-learning has the advantage of not being dependent on timetables and classrooms. Learning becomes completely flexible, and with the right tools can be both entertaining and effective. That is what Zsófia and her colleagues make sure of.

There are currently three people in the e-learning team in Budapest, but they will surely need reinforcements in the future. Then, she wants to continue to develop her specialist skills and take a more strategic role, creating storyboards and shaping the educational process. An obvious ambition for someone working in lifelong learning.

The e-learning expertZSÓFIA dali, technical writer and e-learning consultant, semcon hungary


Eight languages, seven subsidiaries in different countries and a product which administers tens of

thousands of keys and lock cylinders. These were some of the challenges when Semcon took on the task of

creating a better and smarter manual for the CLIQ lock system for ASSA ABLOY.

TEXT JOHAN LARSSON PHOTOS KRISTOFER SAMUELSSON

7 MANUALS 8 LANGUAGES


Johan HäggbomProject Manager, ASSA ABLOY Shared Technologies.

Petter Dahlman Information Engineer, Semcon.


T he cliq locking system developed by Assa Abloy consists of, among other things, an electronic lock cylinder which can be put into standard door locks, padlocks and other standard locks. In the

cylinder is a circuit that is activated when an electronic key is inserted into the lock. Within the key, conditions and permissions are stored which determine if the lock can be opened or not. Keys and cylinders are ad-ministered by the central software CLIQ Web Manager. The system makes it easy to control which individuals have access to open differ-ent locks, and at what times. It also makes it possible to see who has come and gone in one place, as well as dealing with lost keys.

Although the system’s uses are easy to understand, the administration can be very complex when the system is used in real life. This was something that became clear when Semcon’s Petter Dahlman began work on de-veloping the new software manual.

“Some customers have very large systems with tens of thousands of keys and cylinders. And these have to be administered and loaded with different permissions for different users.

Incredibly advanced features configure this. It was a challenge for us first to understand how it works and then describe it to others,” says Dahlman.

THIS MEANS THAT the system manual is ex-tremely comprehensive. In addition to this is the fact that CLIQ is sold in a number of different markets around the world by Assa Abloy’s local subsidiaries. Because the stand-ards for locks are different, the lock cylinders

and keys vary depending on the country. This means that the manual needs to be translated into various languages but also that the actual mechanics have different features and appear-ances. The subsidiaries also have their own brands and graphical profiles, which require additional customization.

PREVIOUSLY EVERY SUBSIDIARY created its own manual. But this took time and cost money. The companies wanted to avoid this work and

“It was a challenge for us first to understand how it works and then describe it to others.”

Petter Dahlman, information engineer, Semcon

About: CLIQCLIQ is an electronic lock system with cylinders which fits in ordinary locks. Information is stored in the keys regarding the conditions and permissions that de-termine if the lock can be opened or not. Keys and cylinders are administrated by an online tool. The cylinder does not need its own power source - this comes from the key. Therefore, the system is suitable for geographically-dispersed installations and where you cannot have or do not want a battery or other power source in the lock.


appealed to the development unit Assa Abloy Shared Technologies to find a central solu-tion. Semcon was selected for the assignment to structure the information and find a way to create customized manuals for different markets efficiently.

“Semcon also carries out technical con-sultancy for Assa Abloy, and that was one of the reasons we chose Semcon for this assignment. Semcon staff have a technical understanding that has impressed us. It’s

not just about understanding how to struc-ture the information but also understanding the product. Because it’s a complex system,” says Johan Häggbom, project manager at Assa Abloy Shared Technologies.

Semcon’s Petter Dahlman first received five local manuals from different subsidiaries. His first task was to coordinate the infor-mation so that it could be managed by Assa Abloy centrally from Stockholm. It turned out that the manuals were not only in different

languages, but there were also significant dif-ferences in quality and what information that was included.

“At the start, we had to rewrite a lot. Then we had to make it understandable and tailor it for different audiences who need different types of information,” says Dahlman.

When it came to writing the contents of the manual, Dahlman had help from his Sem-con colleague Sophia Faitt.

BEFORE THE CONTENT of the manual was fin-ished, Dahlman structured the information using a ‘topic-based’ method. This means that you divide the content into smaller pieces ac-cording to specific topics. Each text deals with just one subject and should be understanda-ble on its own, i.e. regardless of the context in which it is presented. This topic-based way of writing makes it possible to reuse materi-al and to present information in a variety of ways without it being strange to the reader. For example, if a company wants to have a manual that only caters to a certain type of user, it is easy to create a version that con-tains only the necessary parts. You can, for example, produce a “Getting Started” guide

Petter Dahlman Information Engineer, Semcon.

Johan HäggbomProject Manager, ASSA ABLOY Shared Technologies.


About: KentuckyKentucky is an information management system developed by Semcon. The system is used by customers who need to manage large amounts of information in many different forms and versions. The content is stored as XML, which means that text and style information as fonts, colours and images are stored separately. This makes it easy to publish content in different versions with different appearances depending on the purpose. Kentucky also manages mul-tiple versions or translations of the same content, for example.

with the most basic features, or a manual which excludes features which the customer hasn’t bought. This approach also means that in the future it will be easy to create a web-based help site or a mobile app, among other things.

“The challenge is to think of different formats and units right from the start. If you think in the right way from the start it gets easier at the end,” says Dahlman.

To manage the contents of the manual, the XML-based information management tool, Kentucky, is used. This was developed by Semcon for situations where companies have a lot of information that has to be adapted in a lot of different ways for different needs.

With Kentucky, every unit saves informa-tion in just one place, but it can then be used in different contexts. It is easy to reuse the information and you just need to update it in one place when there are changes. The system is already used with around fifteen other customers.

WITH THE NEW set-up, subsidiaries don’t have to produce their own manuals. They tell us instead what information they want, in which language and how it should look, and then Semcon generates a custom manual. There are many advantages to this.

“Local companies get a manual at a lower cost in terms of both time and money. But

they also get more complete and more accu-rate information,” says Dahlman.

“We developed the product and are now also updating the manual. We can deliver everything at the same time. Moreover, there is only one source of information and there-fore no risk that it is different in different versions of the manual,” says Urban Well-holm, director of product innovation at Assa Abloy, who commissioned the project.

“Now, local companies can get a working manual as soon as a new version of the prod-uct is ready,” says Johan Häggbom.

Kentucky keeps track of languages, chang-es, and version control. The tool also keeps track of what has already been translated and so does not need to be translated again in an updated version. This leads to cost-effective translations.

THE NEXT STEP in the project is adding more languages. Currently the manual is in eight languages. However, the target is 20.

“20 languages and seven companies gives you 140 possible combinations of language and profile. That’s when Kentucky really comes into its own,” says Petter Dahlman.

Another step is making information available in other forms such as the internet or a mobile app. Everyone involved can also see that, even if nothing is agreed right now, the same approach could be used for other Assa Abloy products.“The project has deliberately been an evalua-tion on our part to see how it worked. And we are extremely satisfied,” says Häggbom. 1

“Now, local companies can get a working manual as soon as a new version of the product is ready.”

Johan Häggbom, project manager, Assa Abloy Shared Technologies

The Sonic Movement reimagines what vehicles could sound like. The project is a result of close-knit collaboration between engineers, designers and sound artists.WORDS LINA TÖRNQUIST PHOTO LUKE CASEY

New technologies can give rise to entirely new pro-blems. But they can also bring urgency to solving old problems in new ways.

“With the emergence of electric vehicles, we wanted to think about how vehicles can interact differently with their environment,” says Fernando Ocaña, cre-ative director at Semcon’s design department. Together with hybrid designer James Brooks he initiated Sonic Movement, a Semcon colla-boration with US music/art duo Holly Hern-don and Mat Dryhurst, which aims to work out how car sounds can be reimagined.

In the past, the problem with vehicle sounds – such as motors and sirens – is that they have often been far too loud. But today, electric cars are being criticised as a hazard to pedestrians for being too quiet. And the project is, in part, a reaction to new law under

discussion in the US that may legislate for what sounds electric vehicles should make, in an effort to increase traffic safety.

“Our fear was that once something beco-mes implemented it becomes impossible to change. If a big car company introduces the sound of a V8 engine into an electric vehicle or adds an annoying bleeping sound, almost immediately you’ll find that it sets legisla-tion,” says James Brooks. “But the project was also a way to start working with something that resonates on a cultural level and an opp-ortunity to work with someone like Holly who understands sound in a completely dif-ferent way.”

For sound artist Holly Herndon the project presented a different type of challenge from the way she normally works: “The project is not only about personal expression, it is about safety codes and reimagining what the future sounds like,” she says. “I wanted to

THE NEW SOUND OF OUR CITIES

create something that sounded like the future but with human elements – not a 1960’s ver-sion of the future.”

THE PROJECT TEAM drew on Semcon’s broad ex-pertise and includes, among others, inhouse sound engineers and sound designers. Their rethink of vehicle sounds has prompted inte-rest from the automotive industry, tech firms and coverage in the BBC after the premiere at IAA motor show in Frankfurt. These positive reactions to the project are a testament to that fact that the project fills a need the auto industry has not been addressing.

“It makes sense to people that we could change the way our cars sound – and ultima-tely the way our cities sound,” says Fernando Ocaña. ”It shows the strength of research based on a more exploratory approach and it is a way of working we plan to replicate with other projects.”

“In the end,” James Brooks fills in, “we’re just raising questions. We’re laying out con-cepts. As a passer-by, why do I have to hear the horn of a car far away? Why can’t that be a sound that is directed with directional speakers towards the person in front? New technologies are opening up new possibilities to solve those issues.” 1

Listen to the result of Semcons innovative sound collaboration: Sonic Movement.



SEMCON UPDATEWHAT’S HAPPENING IN SEMCON’S WORLD

THE BANGALORE OFFICE has recently run a pro-ject with the theme “Your next generation will thank you.” The goal is to raise awareness of how people affect the environment and what we can do so that our children and grandchildren can have a high quality of life.

As part of the project Semcon has helped schoolchildren to plant trees. This is both a sym-bolic and concrete example of what we can all do for our environment.

“Our schools are the best place to start a

project like this, where we can directly educate the children,” says Kishore Kumar Gattu, Acting Managing Director, Semcon India.

Activities include an essay contest on the topic of pollution, a ’Go Green’ drawing competition and a debate on the major role which plants and trees play.

One of the issues discussed was that “we save up for our studies and cultural experiences - why not for clean air, water, fuel sources and crops for future generations?”

“Everyone agreed that we need to reduce emis-sions, that drinking water is running out, that the air we breathe is making us sick and that there is less land for us to grow food,” says Kishore.

It was all very much appreciated by both students and teachers, and it opened up the opportunity to continue with some type of pro-gramme in the future.

At Semcon we were motivated by the activity and hope to implement more CSR initiatives in the future.

Green initiative from Semcon IndiaPHOTO: SEMCON


Semcon expands in northern SwedenWhen Semcon’s Luleå office opened, it became Semcon’s northernmost operation.

“With the Luleå office we are strengthening our position in the north of Sweden, an attractive area in which we want to continue to increase our business and presence,” says Olof Christensson, President of business area Design & Development. “Our initial fo-cus is on delivering services to customers primarily in the energy, processing and mining sectors.”

Jens Berg is responsible for Luleå operations, which are continually expanding. This means that Semcon now has 46 offices spread across nine countries.

DeLaval and Semcon form a partnershipDeLaval, which works primarily with milk production technical solutions, has once again contracted Semcon to be its exclusive provider of aftermarket services.

“DeLaval is active around the world and we need a partner which is larger than most Swedish consulting companies. The fact that Semcon is a globally-estab-lished company was a key factor in the decision,” says Thomas Funck, manager at DeLaval BA Shared Support Services.

The Semcon sites involved in the work are located in Sweden, the UK and Hungary.

Focus on the environment at the IAA fair in FrankfurtWHEN THE ANNUAL IAA fair was held in Frankfurt, Semcon was there of course. Sonic Movement (read more on page 41) received a lot of attention, as did the focus on rechargeable hybrid engines and electric cars.

“We were close to one of the main entrances, which meant that many of the visitors walked by and were able to stop at our booth and interact with us and look at our information,” says Johan Darsbo, Business Development Director at Automotive R&D.

In addition, we were treated to a glimpse into what the automotive industry will offer in the future - larger infotainment systems with larger screens offering more real-time information. P

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future by semcon

#3 2013

“The feeling of going really fast is addictive”

ANN-CHARLOTTE EKLUND

AFTER WORKname Ann-Charlotte Eklund.at work Project Manager in the pharmaceutical and medical technology industry.after work Roller derby training.current challenge To get better at tackling harder!

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About me“I work a lot and spend a lot of my free time playing roller derby. Both training and getting involved in the voluntary aspect of the association. I’m 31 and live in Södermalm in Stockholm.”

About my job“I work as a project management consultant at a large pharmaceutical company. There I manage investment projects within tablet manufacture. I have been at Sem-con since 2009 and am very happy in what I do.”

About roller derby“About a year ago a friend told me that she had joined a roller derby team. It’s a full contact sport on roller skates, and it’s just girls playing. I follo-wed along and gave it a try and became hooked and bought skates from a girl there immedia-tely. The adrenaline rush, the game and the feeling of going really fast is addictive.”

What I’ve learnt from roller derby“For me, roller derby has been a great way to switch off from my job - a good complement to the daily grind at work. I also benefit at work from meeting many different kinds of people at roller derby. And as I’m a project manager at work, I think it’s inte-resting to go in and see how projects are run in an association where everyone works as a volunteer. There are many similarities with my job but at the same time it’s completely different.”

ABOUT: ROLLER DERBYRoller derby is a full-contact sport played on old-fashioned roller skates. The sport develo-ped in the USA in the 1920s and in recent years has spread as an underground movement to many countries over the world.Roller derby is based on five players on each team on an oval indoor track trying to win points through one player, the “jammer”, trying to run around the opposition, called “blockers”.

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KENTUCKY MAKES ASSA ABLOY’S ELECTRONIC KEYS CHEAPER

A MAGAZINE ABOUT THE ART OF CREATING THE FUTURE # 3 2013

THE GOLDENYEARS

TOMORROW’S 60-YEAR-OLDS WILL BE STRONGER BOTH

PHYSICALLY AND FINANCIALLY. HOW DOES THIS AFFECT SOCIETY

– AND HOW CAN WE PREPARE?