Lif: A Voice User Interface
Continuing to design Lif for a wider array of plant-loving and owning people
Lif is an IoT device that facilitates a healthy and fulfilling relationship between humans and their house plants. Lif has undergone many prototyping methods, including analog, 3D model, fabric, and movement prototyping. The investigation into the feasibility, desirability, and viability of Lif is extensive and continues with a Voice User Interface (VUI) prototype. This investigation aims to understand if this device has the opportunity to be interacted with using voice commands.
Design
The users of the Lif are both plants and humans. These users have differing roles: the plant will have the device stuck into its soil, whereas the human will be interacting and engaging with the technology directly. Therefore the user of the VUI will be a human. The human users will normally be interacting with the Lif device in their own homes as most plants will likely be house plants. It is unlikely that the Lif VUI will be interacted with in a different setting.
I plan for this VUI to have a gender-neutral voice as not to create immediate bias. This may pose confusion for the user as they try to decipher gender. Another likely error is that Lif sounds like “leaf,” which may be a commonly used word if the person owns a plant. This may accidentally activate Lif when not necessarily prompted. There may additionally be background noise that can also unintentionally activate the Lif device. However, I aim to avoid these unintentional activations by making the introductory message very specific: “Hey Lif, wake up.” People who own plants most likely will not be greeting leaves unless it is the Lif device. Without this greeting, Lif will not turn on, hopefully avoiding unexpected activations.
VUIs are rising in popularity but are criticized for an ambiguous gathering of personal user information. For this reason, I will investigate the desirability of the Lif VUI. Technical feasibility may be unknown, but I will also test the VUIs speech's viability, and answers to user prompts.
Prototype
I chose to prototype conversations that I thought would happen most frequently between the human user and the Lif VUI. I drafted conversations to complete the following 5 tasks:
- Turn on the Lif device.
- Check the plant’s water levels.
- Check the plant’s sun levels.
- Check the plant’s vitals.
- Turn off the Lif device.
Because speaking to a plant/plant device is not common yet, there is no precedent of how these conversations would normally go. I made the conversations based on VUI devices’ dialogue patterns. After writing these conversations, I constructed a flow chart demonstrating the different pathways that could be taken once the human user activates the Lif.
I account for errors in the flow chart when the Lif cannot determine what the user is asking for/saying. In these instances, the Lif device will default to asking if the human would like to know the plant’s vitals or telling the human to check with the Lif mobile app to find out more information. The human user can follow several pathways as outlined by the previously mentioned tasks.
Analysis
I tested the VUI dialogs with several people, and they mentioned that they thought the VUI confirmation was adequate and encouraged them to complete each task. It was mentioned that the closing message “Goodnight, Lif” may be confusing especially if it is the middle of the day. Overall, people enjoyed interacting with the preliminary Lif VUI and were satisfied with the novel interaction of talking to a plant.
From testing, I believe that the Lif VUI is a successful way of interacting with Lif and that it is enticing to interact with your house plant in this way. I would need to investigate security measures to ensure that it is a desirable device and technology to keep home. I also found that the conversations were viable and easy to follow. In summary, I believe the Lif VUI was satisfactory, and further iterations of fleshing out the details of the VUI would enhance a user’s experience.
Though I believe this was successful, I would change a few things about approaching this problem. I do not think I explored the realm of VUIs as fully as I could have. I should have explored more types of voices and which one would be the most appropriate to use for Lif. I know that was not explicitly part of the assignment, but I believe that makes the VUI more realistic to test. I also think I would have to think about discoverability and learn how users could better find out what the Lif VUI can do. To change the prototype itself, I would most likely change the closing message and move away from wake up and goodnight as opening and closing measures. I would choose more exciting words to keep the user engaged and happy with their Lif interaction. I thought this exercise was interesting and challenging, and I’m excited to work on future VUIs.
