siemens corporate research

*Owing to an NDA with Siemens Corporate Research, I am unable to showcase the work I completed during the internship.*
I have instead compiled a list of projects I was a part of and a description of contributions to each.

team (portion)

"The Collective Space"

Exploration as to how imminent new technologies, human behavior research, and design thinking can impact future building environments of the future. Large research project culminating in a variety of concepts designed to provide initial solutions and discourse surrounding present and future scenarios. Collaborated with members from other Siemens Research groups such as Automation and Control, and Imaging and Visualization. My responsibilities included ideation of design concepts and creating presentation material such as prototypes, screens, and scenarios to showcase ideas.

The vision for the project was to build a future in which environments of the future will help partake in decision making. We need to re-imagine relationships between people and space when virtual systems help mould and govern our physical surroundings. The idea of a new transparent “wikiculture” greatly interests me (similar to Bruce Sterling’s “Spime” concept) and I used this project as an early exploration as to the possibilities of such a future, dealing with Siemens business constraints as well.


action shot of design synthesis

The goal was to design a system to enhance comfort at the workplace by giving users more control of their own “thermal comfort”, while also trying to use less energy as a whole. The majority of the thinking went into how we could make people feel more comfortable (physically and mentally) while using less energy.

The team designed a system for building facilitators to constantly manage discomfort in a “high performance building”. Our system took in information from nano-sensors placed inside a building to manage many variables such as temperature, humidity, air velocity, and carbon dioxide for each “zone” in a building. The goal was to help building managers make decisions by giving them both the micro and macro picture of the complex relationships inside their building between energy use, occupant behavior, and comfort.

The team designed a management and simulation system for building facilitators and stakeholders to set goals for their carbon footprint as well as to monitor actual performance. The management system was meant to aid building facilitators in both short-term and long-term monitoring of their building. Included in the management system were simulation aspects so that building facilitators could understand how different changes could potentially impact their carbon footprint.

We designed an initial framework for users to exist in our interpretation of “The Collective Space’. This included the user interface, where we experimented in replacing icons and buttons with smart search and verbal control. I would have like to play with gestural and haptic control as well, but for the purpose of our deliverable, we stuck with how we could integrate the different elements of our “High Performance Building” portfolio into a mobile platform for users. In thinking about mobile, we also considered what kinds of potential dialogues could occur, from collaboration and co-control, to broadcasting and presence.

needle guidance workflow

Tasked with improving the “Needle Guidance” user experience for Siemens Medical, a live and integrated needle guidance suite for surgeons and medical personnel. It was imperative to get a firm understanding of the process of how doctors would prepare, perform, and organize needle guidance surgery as the resulting concept solution was largely a goal based system that focused on core tasks to eliminate confusion within the interface and place the focus on the actual surgery and patient.

+ More information on Siemens Needle Guidance


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