SIEMENS

Their assignment was simple—complain. But on this occasion they found that hard to do. Instead, the people from online community www.feierabend.de who had been invited to Siemens' Traunreut location about an hour east of Munich had rave reviews. At the invitation of Bosch und Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH), nine men and women between the ages of 46 and 72 were asked to gather in January 2010 to test the latest BSH kitchen appliances for user-friendliness and user design, and to suggest improvements.

The Feierabend "scouts", as the testers called themselves, tried their hands on a multi-course menu. They stuffed chicken thighs into a steamer, shoved flat bread and chocolate cakes into the oven, and steamed vegetables on the induction cooktop. By the time the testing was completed, they had all become big fans of the steam oven. “This appliance actually tells me when I need to add water,” said an impressed Bernd Schönberg, 67. And Theresia Kerner, 72, couldn't get over the oven's controls. “You can just search for the program you need and then start it by using the touchscreen,” she said. The favorite of Christa Meindl, 58, a nurse, was the integrated recipe database. “It enables even amateur cooks to prepare complicated dishes,” she said of the system.

BSH has optimized the “Design for all” concept to such a degree that none of the test cooks had to stop and think about how to use the technology. The concept can be summarized as follows: build appliances that are easy to use. The “LiftMatic,” for example, has almost nothing in common with a conventional oven. To maximize its ergonomics, the bottom of the unit can be lowered to eye level, with the oven trays, and conveniently filled from three sides.

Designed with ease of use in mind, is a new range control panel called DiscControl. “It's a big hit not only with the iPod generation, but also with older folks who are still used to adjusting a lever,” says Dr. Ingo Pietsch, Innovation and Technology Manager at BSH. The ultraflat metal disc with the diameter of an espresso cup is inset in the range's control panel and can be turned with one finger. A magnet transmits the movement on a display.

Appliances for Generations. IT specialist Martin Schultz and his colleagues at BSH are responsible for the user-friendliness of kitchen ranges. Their observations help to ensure that no appliance goes into production that fails to satisfy the strict “Design for all” criteria. “With this in mind, BSH has provided a special catalogue of requirements for product development—requirements that are refined as new scientific findings develop. Factors such as lettering size, contrast levels, and operating logic and elements must meet specific criteria,” explains Schultz. “We also take into account handicaps, such as vision impairments.” New software called “Impairment Simulator” will help Schultz with these tasks in the future.

Schultz has copied images and video clips of range displays into a database. Using the software, he simulates a reduced field of vision or color blindness. He calls up a photo of a range's switch elements onto the monitor, uses a menu to set the degree or type of vision impairment—and with one mouse click, the image appears as it would be seen by the user with the impairment.

Impairment Simulator was developed by researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK, who made it available to members of the Inclusive Design consortium, which was founded in May 2010 and counts BSH among its members. The consortium also includes representatives of other sectors, such as Bayer Healthcare, Nestlé, and the BBC. For Pietsch, the innovation manager, that's an exciting mix. “As a household appliances specialist, we have contact with the food industry, and we can learn from the BBC how to better present our products on the Internet,” he says.

Keeping It Simple. Some industrial sectors are still reacting hesitantly to the rapidly-growing demand for products and services that comply with the “Design for all” concept, and thus with the principles of usability. One reason for this is that associated products aren't considered stylish. “When developers design something for older people, the results are often products with a kind of ‘nursing home image,' which nobody wants,” complains Sebastian Glende, a product ergonomics expert who  heads the Senior Research Group, a group of retirees who test new technologies. “Older people,” he says, “want simple, very practical products that also look great.”

To encourage companies to develop more such products, Germany's Federal Ministry of Economics initiated a study to analyze the momentum for economic growth that “Design for all” generates. The study's authors surveyed experts and looked at the market success of existing products in Germany, Japan, and the U.S. that stand out by virtue of their “innovative technology, outstanding design, and great user-friendliness”—including the LiftMatic oven and the EasyStore refrigerator from BSH. They concluded “Design for all” is a source of “considerable potential for business, although it is not quantifiable in the scope of this study.”

Demographic trends point to increasing demand. In 2030 in Germany alone, there will be roughly 26 million people over the age of 60—one third of the population. Thanks to the automation of many household functions, it could become possible for seniors to live independently at home for longer. Already today, 27 % of the population of Western Europe over age 65 and 45 % of seniors over 80 live in single-person households.

Radio Signals. “In a few years there will be appliances that can be integrated in an intelligent house, including those that users will be able to control and monitor on a display,” says Dr. Gerhard Fuchs, who is responsible for “Design for all“ at BSH's central technology unit.

With this vision in mind, the Spanish subsidiary of BSH and the University of Zaragoza recently conducted a test of RFID tags in refrigerators and washing machines. Completed in April 2010, the project, which is known as Easy Line+, is the largest EU project to date focusing on household appliances. Its aim was to develop nearly market-ready prototypes. RFID chips in refrigerators record food expiration dates and issue a warning if a food product has spoiled. In washing machines these chips identify specially-labeled laundry items and select the correct program. Sensors in the kitchen alert an E-servant, the central interface, if smoke rises while the cooker is in use.

Today, the youngest seniors are experienced computer users and are by no means  reluctant to automate their homes—if the price is right. Birgid Eberhardt, a gerontologist and project manager for ambient assisted living at VDE, an industry association, believes that in the future mass production will result in much lower prices in this area.

Before that can happen, however, one major obstacle must be resolved: “Binding standards must help to integrate existing household appliances from different manufacturers into a smart living space.” Glende, the seniors expert, believes the success of networked technologies also depends on whether “products really have useful functions.” Gimmicks have little appeal for seniors, he says.

Focusing on what's Functional. These considerations have made a profound impression on researchers at Berlin's Technical University. There, retirees representing the Senior Research Group evaluated high-tech solutions for the smart homes of the future—and they were not impressed. They found the recipes integrated in a refrigerator monitor to be impractical or useless, and in their view much of the displayed information served no useful purpose. They concluded that they had merely been shown what technology can do, but without reference to the specific needs of many users.

In Potsdam they felt differently. The sample apartment supplied by Gewoba and the Building Telematics department of Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences, and supported by the German government's “SmartSenior” research project (see article "Coming Home"), was limited to relatively simple technology that can be easily realized today.

The apartment's electronic entry system, in particular, was a big hit among the visitors. When a resident leaves the apartment, it shuts off everything that doesn't have to stay on. That means fires can't be started by coffee machines, for example, and the hall light automatically turns on when someone enters.

Eberhardt hopes that enthusiasm for such technologies will inspire consumers to act. “Many household appliances aren't replaced for 20 years,” she says, pointing out that in many cases the price of a new appliance can be quickly recovered through reduced electric bills.