Keywords

1 Introduction

Extended computer use has drawn the public’s attention to its potential health risk in recent years due to its possible contributions to symptoms of visual impairment, musculoskeletal injuries, skin problems, and even emotional disorders [1]. It is claimed that among the many possible causes of injuries, not taking regular breaks from computer work is an important factor [2, 3].

In response to the concern about extended computer use, a lot of research effort has been devoted to developing preventive programs such as computer software packages or hardware devices. Optimistic and prospective results have been observed. For example, van den Heuvel et al. [4] reported a positive effect on recovery from complaints of work-related disorders through the use of software programs stimulating regular breaks and exercise. Marangoni [5] proposed an intermittent stretching exercises program and found that the interventions contributed to a significant reduction in musculoskeletal pain associated with working at a computer workstation. Wang and Chern [6] found that the computer break/stretch/massage program significantly affected the participants’ computer-related health behaviors during the experiment period.

While most people have been aware of the potential benefits of the programs alike to their health, it caused our attention that they might still hesitate on the adoption of the interventions. Part of the reason is that they think the frequent breaks may diminish their attention level and work performance as well. In response to the concern, we came up with an interactive “tangible Daniel” for the purpose of informing prolonged-sitting computer users of the time and intensity of screen focusing activities.

2 Methods

The key concept of the proposed “tangible Daniel” is to keep computer users staying on the 3003-rule track (taking 3 min break away from computer screen after 30 min sitting). Therefore, after a user has been sitting in front of the screen for more than 30 min, the ultrasonic sensor, controlled by an embedded IC chip, would send a signal to the “tangible Daniel” (with LED light bulbs installed inside) to make the color of his outside look turn red (see Fig. 1). To the contrary, as long as the user moved away from the computer screen, Daniel would resume normal color.

Fig. 1.
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Concept of Daniel and operational timing (Color figure online)

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Three different level settings were built for the users to set up for their preferences—3003 and 5005 (3 min break after 30 min work and 5 min break after 50 min work); 3006 (6 min break after 30 min work, and so on); and 3010 (10 min break).

The production of Daniel is the core task for the project (Fig. 2). First, the designers worked on reshaping the proposed 3D design model “Daniel” for the shape, style, color, ergonomics, etc., to make the model suitable for the body movement and interactive devices installation. The most difficult challenge was to make sure there was enough space inside “Daniel” to allow the programmer to install and wire some chips, buttons, lights and sensors as well as batteries for the interactive functions.

Fig. 2.
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The production process of 3D printing and completed Daniel

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Second, the designers worked on tackling the mechanism issues such as how to actually install and fix the devices (chip, battery, LED light bulbs…) inside Daniel’s belly (Fig. 3); and how to open up Daniel’s body for battery replacement, etc. The concern arising here is to how to make an optimized trade-off between shape design (user’s perspective) and functioning demands (producer’s challenge).

Fig. 3.
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Installation of embedded components into the Daniel

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Next, after the figure and shape was settled, an IC chip was embedded inside Daniel’s body to control for the LED color changing and motor driving mechanism. In fact, the IC chip is the core technology of the proposed Daniel.

Figure 4 shows the block diagram of the embedded computing system, which is programmed to sense the computer user’s working status with the aid of user monitoring program via ultrasonic sensor, and subsequently responds with the appropriate stage of LEDs. The transition among the control stages is designed as a state diagram and is programmed in the flash memory. A microcontroller, consisting of a central processing unit (CPU), executes the program to adjust the ON duration of red, green and blue LEDs to mix up the specified light color.

Fig. 4.
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A block diagram of the embedded computing system and electric circuit diagram (Color figure online)

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3 Conclusions and Suggestions

After the completion of the prototype Daniel, a series of testing and modifications followed through the participation of 10 volunteer undergraduate students. A quantitative questionnaire survey was used to collect users’ evaluation along with a face-to-face interview to solicit in-depth feedback of user experience.

Overall, the satisfaction of the product reached a high score of 4.68 (based on a 5-point Likert scale). Generally they thought the tangible Daniel looked cute and was useful to alert user’s sitting duration in front of computer. Based on their own experience and perception, they would be willing to recommend it to their friends in the future. Meanwhile, they raised some concerns about the design of the prototype. For example, they thought the figure size was kind of big, which might make it inconvenient to be carried around; the changing color of LED light seemed too dim to attract the user’s attention; and, the figure was relatively tall, which would make it look unsteady.

In summary, this study followed previous research attention on the negative effects of extended computer use and designed a prototype Daniel aiming to alert extended computer users to “stand up” and even “stay away” from the computer from time to time. It is expected that a healthy computer behavior would be pursued for prolonged computer users, especially for the tech-savvy generation.

Currently a more robust evaluation with more participants is under way. After a positive evidence is observed, the impact of the created interactive device on users’ working efficiency and task performance will serve as the next research issue in the near future.