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Design for Sustainability is a research area based on a multidisciplinary approach, which has become increasingly important in recent years. Great attention is paid to the design of products that can impact on users' behaviours, through embedded smart technologies, e.g. Internet of Things (IoT). In fact, IoT systems are able to “dialogue” with the users, supporting the identification of any misbehaviour, and suggesting more sustainable ones.This paper presents a research aiming at supporting users towards more conscious food consumption in their daily life to reduce food waste. As a case study, it has been developed an interactive system in which chicken eggs are used as main communication element. Indeed, the environmental footprint of the egg industry is very heavy, and eggs are one of the main wasted food. The interactive system consists of a physical product, an eggs tray, integrating sensors and actuators for handling the interaction with users. It is accompanied by an interactive application for monitoring eggs consumption, displaying eggs waste statistics, and an Augmented Reality part for children, aimed to improve their awareness about food waste and the impact on their food habits through an “edutainment” approach.

The recent interest in human-robot interaction requires the development of new gripping solutions, compared to those already available and widely used. One of the most advanced solutions in nature is that of the human hand, and several research contributions try to replicate its functionality. Technological advances in manufacturing technologies and design tools are opening possibilities in the design of new solutions. The paper reports the results of the design of an underactuated artificial robotic hand, designed by exploiting the benefits offered by additive manufacturing technologies.

Littering is a highly diffused anti-environmental and anti-social behavior, especially among young people. Furthermore, cigarette butts are one of the most littered items and are responsible for both severe environmental damages and high clean up expenses. The aim of this project is to design an interactive ashtray for the campus environment to limit the cigarette butts littering behavior in an engaging and effective way. Qualitative and quantitative data are collected. Coded observations were implemented through the research process, including the 2 pre (without the prototype) and 2 pros (with the prototype) sessions. Also, user experience test and one to one interview were conducted for deepening the understanding of the littering phenomenon and the reasons behind in the behavior among young people. The prototype indeed reduced the number of cigarette butts littering among observed behaviors of 156 students, especially in male sample. Final results indicate the behavior change of disposers is moderated by other factors, as the environmental cleanliness. Future development is also discussed.

3D printed heterogeneous lattice structures are beam-and-node based structures characterised by a variable geometry. This variability is obtained starting from a periodic structure and modifying the relative density of the unit cells or by combining unit cells having different shapes. While several consolidated design approaches are described to implement the first approach, there are still computational issues to be addressed to combine different cells properly. In this paper, we describe a preliminary experimental study focused on exploring the design issues to be addressed as well as the advantages that this second type of heterogeneous structures could provide. The Three-Point-Bending test was used to compare the behaviour of different types of heterogeneous structures printed using the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) technology. Results demonstrated that the possibility of combining multiple unit cells represents a valid strategy for performing a more effective tuning of the material distribution within the design space. However, further studies are necessary to explore the behaviour of these structures and develop guidelines for helping designers in exploiting their potential.

The scarce availability of water in highly populated cities is about to become a social problem. While the water service companies work on improving the distribution network in order to reduce losses, it is evident that one of the main problems is due to an excess of use of this resource by users. This consumption is relatively controlled when excessive consumption is clearly associated, in the consumer mind, with high costs. However, when users are in public places they tend to consume water because of a loss of correlation with costs. In this paper, we describe the design of a device to be installed in public environments, which aims to reduce the consumption of water. The device measures in real time the flow of water and sends the user visual and sound information trying to create a link between consumption and costs. The device has been installed in a university campus bathroom and has been tested. Test results show a reduction in water consumption, especially in the interactive prototype approach compared to the conventional treatment. Further modifications for future development of the interactive device is also discussed.

The control shifting between a human driver and a semi-autonomous vehicle is one of the most critical scenarios in the road-map of autonomous vehicle development. This paper proposes a methodology to study driver's behaviour in semi-autonomous driving with physiological-sensors-integrated driving simulators. A virtual scenario simulating take-over tasks has been implemented. The behavioural profile of the driver has been defined analysing key metrics collected by the simulator namely lateral position, steering wheel angle, throttle time, brake time, speed, and the take-over time. In addition, heart rate and skin conductance changes have been considered as physiological indicators to assess cognitive workload and reactivity. The methodology has been applied in an experimental study which results are crucial for taking insights on users’ behaviour. Results show that individual different driving styles and performance are able to be distinguished by calculating and elaborating the data collected by the system. This research provides potential directions for establishing a method to characterize a driver's behaviour in a semi-autonomous vehicle.

Aims: The aim of the study was to show a case with a midline diastema in a patient with high periodontal risks and gingival recessions treated with clear aligners. The objective was to predict and quantify root movements using a dedicated software that extrapolates data from the Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT). Case Presentation: A 31-year-old female with a mandibular midline diastema asked for an aesthetic treatment. She had vertical bone loss on the lower central incisors, so a CBCT was necessary in order to plan the root movements. The purpose of the treatment was to avoid an uncontrolled tipping of the incisors and, therefore, a vestibular movement of the roots, which could cause serious periodontal problems. Conclusion: At the end of the treatment, the complete closure of the diastema and the radiographic healing of the vertical bone loss between mandibular central incisors were achieved. The superimpositions with the virtual setup demonstrated predictability of root movements of 76%.

This paper describes the design and preliminary test of a virtual reality driving simulator capable of conveying haptic and visual messages to promote eco-sustainable driving behavior. The driving simulator was implemented through the Unity game engine; a large street environment, including high-speed and urban sections, was created to examine different driving behaviors. The hardware setup included a gaming driving seat, equipped with a steering wheel and pedals; the virtual scenarios were displayed through an Oculus Rift headset to guarantee an immersive experience. Haptic stimulation (i.e., vibrations) was delivered to the driver through the accelerator pedal, while visual stimuli (i.e., icons and colors) were shown on a virtual head-up display. The sensory feedbacks were presented both alone and in combination, providing information about excessive acceleration and speed. Four different virtual scenarios, each one including a distracting element (i.e., navigator, rain, call, and traffic), were also created. Ten participants tested the simulator. Fuel consumption was evaluated by calculating a mean power index (MPI) in reference to the sensory feedback presentation; physiological reactions and responses to a usability survey were also collected. The results revealed that the haptic and visuo-haptic feedback were responsible for an MPI reduction, respectively, for 14% and 11% compared with a condition of no feedback presentation; while visual feedback alone resulted in an MPI increase of 11%. The efficacy of haptic feedback was also accompanied by a more relaxing physiological state of the users, compared with the visual stimulation. The system’s usability was adequate, although haptic stimuli were rated slightly more intrusive than the visual ones. Overall, these preliminary results highlight how promising the use of the haptic channel can be in communicating and guiding the driver toward a more eco-sustainable behavior.

This study presents an alternative process for designing and manufacturing customized trays for dental-whitening treatments. The process is based on a digitized approach consisting of three main stages: design of a reference model, its manufacturing by AM, and thermoforming of the tray. The aim of the study was to develop a high-performance tray, able to guarantee comfort, safety, and efficacy for whitening treatments. To evaluate the patient’s experience, some tests under real operating conditions were performed. Twenty people carried out a nighttime treatment of 14 days. Each patient was asked to assess the overall level of satisfaction and the comfort of the tray and its ability to retain the gel. Tooth whitening was also determined according to the VITAPAN scale. All patients involved in the study were satisfied and provided positive feedback about comfort and tightness of the tray. At the end of the treatment, 15 out of 20 patients achieved shade A1 on the VITAPAN scale. The mean improvement in color shades was about 7. These results confirmed the great potential of the proposed dental tray. Its use was proven to guarantee a high level of quality, flexibility, and customization of dental-whitening treatments, improving comfort, safety, and efficacy.

In Mass Customisation (MC), products are intrinsically variable, because they aim at satisfying end-users’ requests. Modular design and flexible manufacturing technologies are useful strategies to guarantee a wide product variability. However, in the eyewear field, the current strategies are not easily implementable, due to some eyewear peculiarities (e.g., the large variability of the frame geometry and material, and the necessity to use specific manufacturing phases). For example, acetate spectacle-frames are bent through a thermoforming process. This particular phase requires dedicated moulds, whose geometry strictly depends on the frame model to be bent; consequently, changes of the frame geometry continuously require new moulds, which have to be designed, manufactured, used, and finally stored. The purpose of this paper is to propose a new strategy to transform a dedicated tool (i.e., a thermoforming mould) into a reconfigurable one, to optimise the tool design, manufacturing and use. First, how the frame features influence the mould geometry has been investigated, creating a map of relations. On the basis of this map, the conventional monolithic-metallic mould was divided into “standard” (re-usable) and “special” (ad-hoc) modules, where the “special” ones are in charge of managing the variability of the product geometry. The mapped relations were formalised as mathematical equations and then, implemented into a Knowledge Based Engineering (KBE) system, to automatically design the “special” modules and guarantee the mould assemblability. This paper provides an original example of how a reconfigurable thermoforming mould can be conceived and how a KBE system can be used to this aim.

Cultural and educational institutions have been subjected to important changes in the approach they use to involve the public in the last years. For example, museums are more and more playing a pedagogical role, referring not only to exhibitions of pieces of art, but also to exhibitions concerning current topics in cultural and social affairs. Storytelling and interaction are two of the most popular methods used to make exhibitions more interesting for the visitors, and many works have demonstrated that Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality technologies can be effectively used to support these approaches in the context of museum exhibitions. This paper presents a research work aimed to design and develop an interactive multisensory AR application (based on sight, hearing, and olfaction senses), which can be used for improving the users' engagement in exhibitions and generate awareness about the dramatic outcomes of pollution on the environment. Specifically, the paper describes a case study of multisensory Augmented Reality interactive experiences concerning the negative effects of human activities on natural environments.

Kandinsky-Experience Book is a multisensory Augmented Reality experience that involves sight, hearing and smell senses and aims at improving the users’ engagement in the Kandinsky’s artworks. Specifically, the aim of the application is to augment the experience of the user creating a journey throughout Kandinsky's work by using an AR application for smartphones integrated with audio and olfactory stimuli, in order to allow him/her to be more immersed in the piece of art. The research project has been inspired by the synesthetic approach of the abstract painter to the theory and the perception of art in his books. Starting from the artist’s considerations about the relationship between different sensorial stimuli in works of art, we decided to amplify some of his theories suggesting a connection between the main pictorial elements and some corresponding olfactory stimuli, grounding our hypotheses on the content of papers concerning the crossmodal synesthetic correspondences between olfactory stimuli and other sensorial modalities. Thanks to the simultaneous presentation of the specifically developed AR contents and the olfactory stimuli, the users’ feelings and emotions during the experience are amplified as a result of the sensory integration. Moreover, by using AR technology and olfactory devices to stimulate visual and olfactory perceptual channels we aimed at increasing the generation of longer-lasting memories in the users' mind.

Within the scope of Design for Sustainable Behaviour, the connection between behavioural change strategies and design idea generation has received limited attention. This paper highlights metaphorical thinking in product design to stimulate sustainable behaviour. In particular, the current study proposes a metaphor-based design method to guide designers on how to associate product features with behavioural and experiential cues through metaphors. We next report two design cases to evaluate this method. In the end, the shortcomings of current research and future developments are also discussed.

Energy consumption of the EU has a crucial environmental impact; several efforts are nowadays thus directed into massively reducing energy consumption by envelope improvement, system efficiency and smart control. On the other hand, the indoor thermal and lighting conditions significantly influence users' wellbeing and productivity, which is especially important when dealing with educational and working facilities. Strategies to enhance system efficiency are focused on design and construction aspects. These strategies ease to promote a powerful approach which is needed when focusing on existing buildings in need of retrofit measures. When dealing with new or refurbished buildings, energy saving has a further step to achieve. In the last years, research trends moved towards an increasing inclusion of human factors in energy evaluation. This allows to account for the occupancy variability in the energy analyses, considering how to bridge the performance gap between predictive models and actual consumptions due to indoor thermal settings. In empty buildings energy consumption is huge and economic efforts are wasted, due to unconscious energy-wasting behaviors. Previous studies with Interactive Virtual Environments confirmed that indoor environments illuminated by different color lights lead to the perception of different levels of thermal comfort. The results of the present paper replicate previous evidence collected in real conditions, suggesting that Virtual Reality is a valid and reliable tool to assess thermal comfort more quickly and cheaply. This paper provides a further perspective on this topic, including also the use of different fragrances to understand how the indoor environment could be enhanced and manipulated to increase wellbeing, thermal perception and finally energy saving.

The successful combination of aesthetic and engineering specifications is a long-standing issue. The literature reports some examples where this problem was achieved developing tools to support the automatic generation of new product shapes, embedding and linking predefined rule-sets. Notwithstanding, these kinds of tools are effective if and only if the relations among these specifications are known. Other complementary strategies act upstream by building a common ground: they aid in the formalisation of these specifications, fostering the use of a shared language and the same level of detail. This paper lies in between the previous approaches since its purpose is the description of a strategy to formalise the relations among aesthetic and engineering specifications and whose validities are not affected by the product variability. Indeed, fashion-driven products are subject to continuous innovations and changes. Therefore the identification of these predefined rule-sets is challenging. In detail, the paper objective is to build a high-level and long-lasting formalisation of these relations, based on topological and functional rules. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, we developed a case study in the eyewear industry. We started considering the spectacle-frame functionality and derived the high-level formulation linking aesthetic and engineering specifications. We used this formulation to generate an abstraction of the frame geometry, i.e., an archetype, to be used as a reference for the design of new collections. We implemented the archetype through a Matlab script, and we translated it into a design tool, to wit an Excel spreadsheet. The validity of both the archetype and the tool has been tested, in collaboration with an eyewear manufacturer, designing and manufacturing two new models of frames.

Due to the Industry 4.0 initiative, Augmented Reality (AR) has started to be considered one of the most interesting technologies companies should invest in, especially to improve their maintenance services. Several technological limitations have prevented AR to become an effective industrial tool in the past. Now some of them have been overcome, some others not yet by off-the-shelf technologies. In this paper, we present a solution for remote maintenance based on off-the-shelf mobile and AR technologies. The architecture of the application allows us to remotely connect a skilled operator in a control room with an unskilled one located where the maintenance task has to be performed. This application, which has been initially described in a previous work, has been improved on the basis of feedback received by industrial partners. We describe the important features we have added and the rationale behind them to make the remote communication more effective.

One of the most fascinating possibilities of Additive Manufacturing technologies is their capability to realize objects that include various types of joints and moving parts. The research presented in this paper proposes to embed elastic elements in these joints in order to control their compliance. Two applications are also presented, in order to demonstrate, firstly, the practical feasibility of this innovative joint, and, secondly, the possibility to control joint elastic behavior in order to force the connected parts to automatically return to their initial positions when the actuating load is removed.

Magika is an interactive Multisensory Environment that enables new forms of playful interventions for children, especially those with Special Education Needs. Designed in cooperation with more than 30 specialists at local care centers and primary schools, Magika integrates digital worlds projected on the wall and the floor with a gamut of "smart" physical objects (toys, ambient lights, materials, and various connected appliances) to enable tactile, auditory, visual, and olfactory stimuli. The room is connected with an interface for educators that enables them to: control the level of stimuli and their progression; define and share a countless number of game-based learning activities; customize such activities to the evolving needs of each child. This paper describes Magika and discusses its potential benefits for play, education and inclusion.

The potentiality of the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process for multi-material printing has not yet been thoroughly explored in the literature. That is a limitation considering the wide...

Augmented Reality (AR), is one of the most promising technology for technical manuals in the context of Industry 4.0. However, the implementation of AR documentation in industry is still challenging because specific standards and guidelines are missing. In this work, we propose a novel methodology for the conversion of existing “traditional” documentation, and for the authoring of new manuals in AR in compliance to Industry 4.0 principles. The methodology is based on the optimization of text usage with the ASD Simplified Technical English, the conversion of text instructions into 2D graphic symbols, and the structuring of the content through the combination of Darwin Information Typing Architecture (DITA) and Information Mapping (IM). We tested the proposed approach with a case study of a maintenance manual of hydraulic breakers. We validated it with a user test collecting subjective feedbacks of 22 users. The results of this experiment confirm that the manual obtained using our methodology is clearer than other templates.

Smart environment is a key challenge for current ICT research: it is one of the solutions that can enhance people’s quality of life and enable users with impairment to live independently. Over the years, scientific research has proposed several solutions to help and improve the capabilities of its occupants, but they are often developed for a specific context (e.g. particular disease or impairment). These systems do not adapt to the real needs of users with different profiles, and neglect that the user’s requirements may evolve over time. This research work aims to develop a new adaptive smart system able to support users (with and without disabilities) in performing daily tasks by recognizing their preferences and actions and adapting the system feedback consequently. With the aim to develop an easy, efficient and usable adaptive smart system, the final users have been involved in the whole design and development process. The system was validated through a virtual reality system allowing the user interaction evaluation and helping the usability improvement.

HighlightsInspection system for measuring the face form angle and pantoscopic angle of spectacles.Low-cost measurement system based on computer vision.Methodology for controlling the variability of fashion-related products tested on a real industrial case study. Innovation of fashion-related products implies the continuous search for new and appealing shapes and materials in a short period of time due to the seasonality of the market. The design and manufacturing of such products have to deal with a dimensional variability as a consequence of the new shapes. An additional difficulty concerns properly forecasting the technological behaviour of the new materials in relation to the manufacturing process phases. The control of dimensional variations requires time and resource intensive activities. Human's manual and visual inspection solutions are more common than automatic ones for performing such control, where skilled operators are typically the only ones capable of immediately facing non-standard situations. The full control of such variations is even more subtle and mandatory in the field of spectacles, which are fashion-related products and also medical devices. This paper describes an inspection system developed to monitor the dimensional variations of a spectacles frame during the manufacturing process. We discuss the methodological approach followed to develop the system, and the experimental campaign carried out to test its effectiveness. The system intends to be an alternative to current inspection practices used in the field, and also to provide a methodological approach to enable engineers to systematically study the correlations existing among the frame main functional and dimensional parameters, the material behaviour and the technological variables of the manufacturing process. Hence, the system can be considered a method to systematically acquire and formalise new knowledge. The inspection system consists of a workbench equipped with four high-quality commercial webcams that are used to acquire orthogonal-view images of the front of the frame. A software module controls the system and allows the automatic processing of the images acquired, in order to extract the dimensional data of the frame which are relevant for the analysis. A case study is discussed to demonstrate the system performances.

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADASs) allow information provision through visual, auditory, and haptic signals to achieve multidimensional goals of mobility. However, processing information from ADAS requires operating expenses of mental workload that drivers incur from their limited attentional resources. The change in driving condition can modulate drivers' workload and potentially impair drivers' interaction with ADAS. This paper shows how the measure of cardiac activity (heart rate and the indexes of autonomic nervous system (ANS)) could discriminate the influence of different driving conditions on drivers' workload associated with attentional resources engaged while driving with ADAS. Fourteen drivers performed a car-following task with visual ADAS in a simulated driving. Drivers' workload was manipulated in two driving conditions: one in monotonous condition (constant speed) and another in more active condition (variable speed). Results showed that drivers' workload was similarly affected, but the amount of attentional resources allocation was slightly distinct between both conditions. The analysis of main effect of time demonstrated that drivers' workload increased over time without the alterations in autonomic indexes regardless of driving condition. However, the main effect of driving condition produced a higher level of sympathetic activation on variable speed driving compared to driving with constant speed. Variable speed driving requires more adjustment of steering wheel movement (SWM) to maintain lane-keeping performance, which led to higher level of task involvement and increased task engagement. The proposed measures appear promising to help designing new adaptive working modalities for ADAS on the account of variation in driving condition.

Studies of olfactory perception and about the way humans interact with, and perceive food and beverages require appropriate olfactory devices. Moreover, small size, and portable interfaces are needed within the context of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), to enrich and complete the design of different mediated experiences. In this paper, the authors tested a new portable olfactory device for the orthonasal administration of smells. The aim was at verifying if the experience generated by the odors delivered through such device can affect people’s perception of taste. Once established that people could perceive odors using the olfactory device, a group of participants was asked to taste two different types of food (Experiment 1) and three types of beverages (Experiment 2) and to evaluate them on a number of perceptual-dimensions (such as pleasantness, freshness, sweetness, saltiness and bitterness). The participants could taste the food and the beverage without the presence of additional olfactory stimuli or under conditions where olfactory stimuli (smell of chocolate or citrus) were also presented by means of the device. The results showed that the participants’ evaluation of food and beverages were significantly modulated by the concurrently presented odors. The experimental results suggest that: 1) the device is effective in controlling the delivery of odours to human participants without the complexity of management that often affect larger odours delivery systems; 2) odors administered by means of such device can have an effects on food and beverage perception, without the need to change their chemical properties.

Both physical and virtual prototyping are core elements of the design and engineering process. In this paper, we present an industrial case-study in conjunction with a collaborative agile design engineering process and “methodology.” Four groups of heterogeneous Post-doc and Ph.D. students from various domains were assembled and instructed to fulfill a multi-disciplinary design task based on a real-world industry use-case. We present findings, evaluation, and results of this study.

The evolution of technical documentation in the age of Industry 4.0 is going towards the use of visual manuals, in particular exploiting Augmented Reality (AR) technology. Traditional manuals are rich of text instructions that in AR applications are not advisable. In fact text occludes the real scene behind and it is an issue for the translation. For this reason, we propose to create and adopt a controlled and exhaustive vocabulary of graphical symbols, to be used in AR to represent maintenance instructions. In particular, in this work we identified the most frequent maintenance actions used in manuals, and converted them into graphical symbols. Then, we made an elicitation of the symbols designed and created different candidate vocabularies of symbols basing on the criteria found in literature of guessability and homogeneity. Moreover, the vocabularies had to respect two constraints: conflict set and reversibility. Finally, we identified the best of symbols and integrated this one in a real AR application for remote maintenance.

This review focuses on the design process of additively manufactured mesoscale lattice structures (MSLSs). They are arrays of three-dimensional (3D) printed trussed unit cells, whose dimensions span from 0.1 to 10.0 mm. This study intends to detail the phases of the MSLSs design process (with a particular focus on MSLSs whose unit cells are made up of a network of struts and nodes), proposing an integrated and holistic view of it, which is currently lacking in the literature. It aims at guiding designers' decisions with respect to the settled functional requirements and the manufacturing constraints. It also aims to provide an overview for software developers and researchers concerning the design approaches and strategies currently available. A further objective of this review is to stimulate researchers in exploring new MSLSs functionalities, consciously considering the impact of each design phase on the whole process, and on the manufactured product.

In this paper, we present the development of an application that allows us to simulate the multisensory experience of tasting a glass of wine. To this end, technologies for the sense of touch, sight, hearing, and smell have been integrated, creating an interactive multi-sensory experience. The user, after picking up a glass, activates an application in which he is guided by a virtual sommelier to make a tasting, and he is able to perceive the multi-sensory experience of the wine tasting experience. The paper describes the application and its potential use in marketing.

Despite the large number of studies on the multisensory aspects of tactile perception, very little is known regarding the effects of visual and auditory sensory modalities on the tactile hedonic evaluation of textures, especially when the presentation of the stimuli is mediated by a haptic device. In this study, different haptic virtual surfaces were rendered by varying the static and dynamic frictional coefficients of a Geomagic® Touch device. In Experiment 1, the haptic surfaces were paired with pictures representing everyday materials (glass, plastic, rubber and steel); in Experiment 2, the haptic surfaces were paired with sounds resulting from the haptic exploration of paper or sandpaper. In both the experiments, participants were required to rate the pleasantness and the roughness of the virtual surfaces explored. Exploration times were also recorded. Both pleasantness and roughness judgments, as well as the durations of exploration, varied as a function of the combinations of the visuo-tactile and the audio-tactile stimuli presented. Taken together, these results suggest that vision and audition modulate haptic perception and hedonic preferences when tactile sensations are provided through a haptic device. Importantly, these results offer interesting suggestions for designing more pleasant, and even more realistic, multisensory virtual surfaces.

Eco-driving assistance devices are being introduced to reduce CO2 emissions, but the overall changes in the user behavior have not been sufficiently explored. While in-vehicle driver advanced systems are designed to support a single driving task (e.g. reducing emissions), they also imply the adoption of a different driving behavior and different driving attitudes in order to be efficient. Adopting for the first time a new driving style could affect driver's acceptance and undermine new technologies' efficacy. Purpose of the present research is to measure and evaluate the user's responses to first-time use of eco-driving assisting technology. Driver's performances in a virtual simulator were compared between experimental and a control group. The actual driving parameters and CO2 emissions were recorded and compared to the optimal eco-driving style calculated by CarMaker software. The cognitive costs of the new driving style were measured by changes in the modulation of autonomic nervous system and NASA-TLX workload scale. Acceptance of the assisted driving style and general eco-friendly attitudes were analyzed by self-reported measures. Results show that being exposed for the first time to eco-driving technology produces a reduction of cumulate fuel consumption only due to speed reduction, and not to changes in the driving style parameters, as recommended by the assisting software. Overall CO2 emissions of eco-driving group were not different from the control group. Rather, the first time use of the eco-driving assistance increases perceived fatigue and the physiological cardiac autonomic balance related to increased workload over time. These difficulties show that eco-driving style cannot be simply adopted by following the assistance device indications. It seems rather a process, which requires specific support during in the first driving-interaction with eco-driving technology. The design of assistance device that aims to change the driving style, could benefit from the measurement of the user's workload to avoid primacy effect that potentially undermine technology efficacy in supporting user-sustainable behaviors.

This paper presents a hand gestural interaction system that is used to handle a Desktop Haptic Strip for Shape Rendering (DHSSR). The strip is a physical display of virtual curves intersecting 3D virtual objects, and aims at allowing designers to evaluate the quality of shapes during the conceptual design phase of new products. The DHSSR consists of a servo-actuated developable metallic strip, which reproduces cross-sectional curves of 3D virtual objects. In order to generate the virtual curve intersecting the virtual object it has been implemented a hand gestural interaction system, which allows moving the curve or the 3D object. Specifically, through an interaction approach based on a magnetic pinch the user can move the virtual strip until reaching the desired position. Instead, an interaction modality based on index finger recognition allows moving the 3D object while the virtual curve is floating in space. The virtual curve generated by the interaction is used for deforming the physical strip. The hand gestural interaction system has been implemented by using low cost and open technologies, and combines an engine for interactive 3D content generation (Unity 3D), a motion capture sensor (LeapMotion) and the Arduino Leonardo board. In particular, the user's hands are tracked by means of the Leap Motion sensor. The Unity 3D environment is used to virtually render the virtual objects (curve and shape) and the virtual avatar of the users’ hands. The virtual environment is connected with the Arduino Leonardo board in order to control the six servo-actuators of the DHSSR. The paper also presents some studies performed to evaluate the performances of the DHSSR system and the usability of the hand gestural interaction modalities.