Summary of My Role
I served as an embedded UX researcher for 8 months in Intel's New Devices Group, leading research for a non-smartphone-dependent smart sunglasses product aimed at endurance athletes that would go on to be the Oakley Radar Pace. As the primary researcher on the team, I designed and executed seven distinct research projects while working closely with the product development team to translate research insights into technical innovations. Along the way I also trained two junior researchers to take over my role when my contract was complete.
Research Objectives:
Understanding Athletic Coaching Explore how coaching happens naturally, from both coach and athlete perspectives, to inform our digital coaching approach.
Developing Natural Commands Create a command structure that felt intuitive to athletes while working within hardware constraints of sunglasses-based computing at the time.
Understanding User Context Investigate how athletes interact with technology during various workout conditions and environments to ensure our design accommodates the physical, cognitive, and environmental challenges faced during running and cycling activities.
Research Activities
- Exploratory Research Conducted contextual interviews with coaches and athletes, observed coaching sessions, and documented current tracking behaviors.
- Prototype Development Working with the prototyper I created testing system using modified headphones and scripted responses to simulate coaching interactions. From there I was able to develop and refined conversation prompts based on real coaching patterns.
- Field Testing Equipped participants with GoPros and prototypes for hour-long workouts across the Portland Metro Area to capture natural usage patterns and environmental challenges.
- Command Structure Research Investigated how to balance natural language with hardware limitations, identifying commands that were both intuitive and technically feasible.
Project Challenges:
Challenge 1: Testing a Product That Didn't Exist
Challenge 2: Understanding Real-World Usage
Achievements
Patent Development from Research Insights
Our field research revealed a crucial pattern: athletes struggled to interact with audio coaching during moments of high cognitive load, like crossing busy streets. This observation led directly to a patent for context-aware headset technology.
Technical Innovation
The patent (published June 2016) outlined technology that could:
- Detect potentially dangerous situations based on environmental conditions
- Automatically adjust audio settings for user safety
- Modify coaching interactions based on cognitive load
- Adapt noise cancellation to maintain situational awareness
Research Impact
This patent demonstrates how naturalistic user research can drive technical innovation. By observing real user behavior in context, we identified safety and usability needs that wouldn't have been apparent in lab testing alone.
Want to know more? Shoot me an email at uxnoah@gmail.com, or schedule a time with me here.