Cadded by Emely Castro, Rendered with details by Reetu Maran
Alfie
Alfie is your robotic luggage assistant, here to carry your bags and guide you to your room after a long trip. No more straining yourself moving your heavy bags while trying to read signs and navigate your hotel; Alfie makes it easy to not worry.
Constraints
Timeline: 12 weeks
Type: Team Project
Project Description: Create an immersive hotel experience.
Meet the Team
So why Alfie?
Before we dive into the process of creating Alfie, why even make a luggage robot at all? We noticed during our research that hotels are not very unique. They tend to suffer from a monotony in their design; people don't remember much about the hotel they stayed at, just the places they visited.
Therefore, we wanted to break this monotony through a unique, memorable experience: Alfie.
Weeks 1-3: Initial Research Findings
To gather data to more accurately frame the problem, we performed primary and secondary research, conducted interviews with hotel workers and guests alike. We traveled to various hotels of different ratings to understand their function and appeals.
We took the general user journey of arriving at a hotel and made a journey map to identify where we could make an impact. From arrival to check-in, the journey hits the lowest marks; an opportunity to improve appeared there.
Our Key Finding
Weeks 4-6: Concepts
While we generated various concepts, we chose a concept I created where you are guided to your room by a kiosk that checks you in and carries your bags to your room. This evolved to become Alfie after feedback from guest critiques and user testing.
Concept by Emely Castro
Concept by Emely Castro
From this, we further developed the idea; we wanted it to reside in a new hotel of our own making. Essentially so that we could create a more flexible idea within a suitable environment.
We brainstormed how this concept could be better adapted for use.
Concept Sketches by Emely Castro
Concept by Emely Castro
We ultimately focused on the luggage assistant part of the initial concept.
Weeks 7-8: User Testing
We utilized three different tests in order to determine how people interacted with a normal luggage cart, as well as how they felt being with the robot, as well as separated from it (and consequently their luggage).
After the tests using the robotic luggage cart simulation, we showed them what the cart would potentially look like.
Week 9-12: Final Model and Deliverables
Final Model modeled in Fusion 360 by Emely Castro
Storyboard Video
Character Graphics by Emely Castro, Video done by Reetu Maran