engineering students as they work to
create designs that matter I tell my
students to use their senses and go wild
wild is my shorthand for watch in choir
listen and do watch what people are
doing in choir and listen to find out
why and do something use your body and
mind to learn experiment go deep and get
creative done repeatedly these simple
steps will lead to good design I’m sure
of it
why do I believe this I’m an
anthropologist and for nearly 15 years
I’ve been teaching engineering students
how to think like anthropologists in
order to create designs that really
matter if done correctly engineering
starts and ends with people and this is
where engineers can borrow from the
anthropologists playbook we specialize
in understanding people
we specialize an understanding through
empathy engineer’s focus on creating
systems and products to solve problems
but what are the right problems to work
on when an engineer wants to understand
a world the world from someone else’s
perspective they take time to get in
their shoes see the world from that
other person’s viewpoint and
anthropologists do this by going wild
engineers need to do some of this
if engineers don’t take the time to
think in this way and do this kind of
work
they can easily create designs that fall
short of what people need and value it
happens a lot it happened to Cindy Cindy
is a woman who when she was in her mid
60’s she was on vacation and she
suffered a catastrophic heart attack as
a result of medical complications she
lost both her legs below the knees and
most of her fingers I learned a lot
about bad design and good design from
spending time with Cindy I met her a few
years ago because I was interviewing
people about how technology impacts
their feelings of Independence after her
hospitalization and rehabilitation
Cindy received a $90,000 robotic hand
the design and engineering of this
device is remarkable
Cindy was very optimistic very excited
to receive this but after going through
a lengthy insurance process and
specialized training to use this
replacement limb she found she had no
use for it she doesn’t use it at all it
was too cumbersome to use she refers to
it as her Darth Vader hand the inhumanly
long fingers are awkward it’s too hot
it just didn’t meet Cindy’s needs so
first of all Cindy really wanted to
write Christmas cards in her own
handwriting
of course there’s great technology
that’s available speech-to-text one can
communicate but Cindy didn’t want that
she wanted her handwriting back and
Cindy’s prosthetist who’s the same
person who built her two prosthetic legs
heard her say that she wanted her
handwriting
and what did he do he went wild
so he watched her use her Darth Vader
hand he asked her questions he listened
and then with scrap materials he found
in his lab he made for her a silicon pen
holder that slips over her residual hand
with that simple device Cindy got her
handwriting back and with that she got
back a little bit of her sense of self
so then he made a similar device to hold
Cindy uses these items every day of her
life they changed my life she says Cindy
also went wild
Cindy wanted to be able to put on makeup
in the morning without Darth Vader by
her side so she when she was in rehab a
rehab nurse reminded her of soft tubes
that are often used when little kids are
learning how to write you can stick a
pencil in them and it makes it easier to
grip so Cindy did that she took her
eyeliner put it in a tube and now she
can put on her makeup in the morning by
herself Cindy’s house is filled with
these inventions Cindy and people around
her including her neighbors came up with
numerous low-tech low-cost devices for
everyday high impact so that hugely
expensive robotic and top-of-the-line
engineering impressive design really
important to many people a lifesaver for
many people and see these case it missed
the mark on Reed letting her reach what
mattered most to her which was
independence and a sense of being
herself again there really was no place
in Cindy’s life for Darth Vader score
so unlike Cindy Terry had the benefit of
working with a team of engineers who
think like anthropologists the team that
worked with Terry they went wild and
right from the start they designed
something that mattered most to her
Terry is a woman who is in her mid 60’s
she lives alone and she uses a
wheelchair I met Terry because she
volunteered to participate in a class
that I co-teach with designers and
engineers where the students design and
build something with and for someone in
the community so early in their project
Terry’s team heard Terry used the term
cabin fever to describe how she feels
when she’s stuck in her apartment for
too many days in a row one of the most
important tools that an anthropologist
uses is to learn to speak the language
of the people they’re trying to
understand and so the team did that they
didn’t want to understand they knew what
cabin fever meant they wanted to make
sure they understood what it meant to
Terry what bothers Terry about being in
the home too long how long is too long
what does she like to do when she goes
out and with whom what’s preventing her
from doing that the team looked into all
of that and what they found is that
grocery shopping is a highlight of
Terry’s life she loves to go out and go
shopping but she doesn’t do it as much
as she’d like to because it’s
inconvenient and it actually hurts her
back because she has to stack her
groceries she sits forward on her
wheelchair a little to stack the
groceries behind her on the chair so the
students the team of students went with
Terry to the grocery store they watched
her take items off the shelf ask people
to get things that were up too high for
her they watched her talk to the butcher
laughs with a cashier they watched her
Joe
around with little children they watched
her take things off the shelf and then
put them back because she realized she
wouldn’t be able to carry them home they
also tried out her wheelchair to see
what it was like to stack it up with
grocery bags and they read about the
impact of isolation on older adults and
people with disabilities when I told a
friend of mine who’s a traditionally
trained engineer about Terry he told me
with great confidence that he knew what
the solution would be to Terry’s
problems Amazon fresh or any direct to
the door delivery service a high-tech
solution to the rescue know this is
where going wild makes the difference
Terry’s team knew to dig deeper they
knew that getting going grocery shopping
for Terry was about much more than
buying food going grocery shopping gave
Terry the chance to engage with other
people to choose make choices about her
own food and things she wanted in her
house and to feel like an independent
adult so the team worked with Terry in
our studio in her home in the grocery
store and they designed a rack that
attaches to the back of her wheelchair
that she can carry her groceries on it’s
purple which is her favorite color
she can put it on and off herself at
home when she’s at the grocery store the
bagger loads it up with bags then she
after a month of having the rack Terry
told me that she had been out more times
in the at month than in the previous
three months now you might be thinking
wait that doesn’t make sense
if she has an efficient rack that should
mean fewer trips not more
but Terry’s going out more because the
students made it easier for her to go
out and more than that the students made
it easier for her to talk to people
people are always asking her about the
purple rack and Terry loves telling the
story of the work that she did with this
team to design this purple grocery
carrying rack so the team knew they saw
a grocery shopping from Terry’s
perspective they went wild and they
designed a perfect solution to cabin
fever
they watched inquired listened and did
so what does this mean for all of us we
can all democratize creativity we can
all learn what matters most to the
people around us and we can all design
and build for that we can all use the
tools of anthropology to dig in and
learn about people around us what they
value what they want what they have and
after spending time with Cyndi and Terry
my students told me that it changed
their views of people in their own lives
one student said it changed her
understanding of her own grandfather so
as he grew older her grandfather stopped
climbing mountains and started canoeing
the student was disappointed she thought
he had given up on something he loved
but after going wild in my class she
started to see hiking and canoeing from
her grandfather’s perspective they were
both activities that allowed him to
achieve the same goal which is enjoying
the outdoors but canoeing became easier
for him because as he grew older he had
experienced physical changes and it was
easier to canoe that’s what practicing
empathy does and we can all do this this
isn’t just the work for expert engineers
and
apologists let’s all go wild in our own
lives look around you who do you know
who’s having trouble doing something
they really want to do do you really
know what they want and why the answers
can come in unexpected places and they
can come to any of us who take the time
to see and to understand so don’t assume
you know what people want instead pause
and listen to the clues people give us
as they reach for what matters most
we all deserve that thank you
[Applause] [Music]