UXR Lab &
Hardware Prototype
How do you validate an experience that doesn't exist yet?
Client
Glydways
Role
Principal Design Technologist
Type
UX Research · Hardware Prototype
Stack
Arduino · iOS · Linux · WebSocket · M5Stack · ElevenLabs
01
The Question
Autonomous transit is a new category. You can't do a usability study of something that doesn't exist yet, and you can't design for a rider experience by looking at what competitors have built. The research problem is: how do you generate real data about a hypothetical experience?
The answer was to build a physical approximation — a multi-modal lab environment that could simulate the sensory conditions of an autonomous pod ride well enough to surface real rider responses.
“You can't usability-test something that doesn't exist. So we built a close-enough version of it.”
02
The Rig
iOS Controller
Orchestrates state transitions · Sends WebSocket events to all connected devices
Arduino
LED lighting control · Receives state and drives interior + exterior color/brightness
M5Stack Display
In-cabin display surface · Shows UI states synchronized to ride phase
Linux Audio
AVAS playback · AI voice interaction via ElevenLabs TTS pipeline
All four surfaces respond simultaneously to a single state event fired from the iOS controller — boarding, in-transit, arrival, emergency. The rig made it possible to run structured UXR sessions with real participants experiencing a coordinated multi-modal response, not a screen prototype.
03
What We Learned
Acoustic environment dominates
Participants consistently cited sound before visual feedback when describing their comfort level. Audio sequencing became a primary design constraint, not a secondary one.
State transitions need anticipation
Sudden state changes — even positive ones like arrival — caused anxiety. A 2–3 second anticipatory cue before each transition measurably reduced stress responses.
Physical props outperform screen prototypes
Participants suspended disbelief much more readily in the physical rig than in any screen-based simulation. Embodied experience generates qualitatively different feedback.
Next project
Hyphen — Director of DesignHMI for a robotic kitchen