Nomi Mate 1.0 – In-car companion
2016 - 2017ES8 Nomi Mate 1.0 is an in-car robot standing in the instrumental panel as a driver companion. It is the core product of the NIO innovation series and a very detailed project. I am very proud that I was involved in the process from 0 to 1.
Contribution to the project
My role in the team involved
- Persona development: Defining the personality of Nomi.
- Use case definition: Setting up the framework for the emotion engine (which is the basis for extending use cases and animations).
- 2D and 3D animations prototyping in Adobe After Effects and Unity.
- Hardware prototyping for voice input and connection with the VR prototype.
- Defining the voice interface in different scenarios and searching for the right voice for Nomi
The overall process includes user research (affective computing), trends/market research, and later prototyping entire scenarios as a demonstration for top management.
Concept development
We intended that the product should bring joys to users. So we aimed to decorate the hard-core technology with emotional interface using a friendly and easy-to-use interface. In Nomi Mate, the direct way of user interaction is facial expression (2D/3D animation). Based on the emotional model, we defined the facial expressions to make sure Nomi Mate could deliver emotions in all use cases.
Emoji category demo
Emoji animation demo
VR prototype demo
A VR prototype was built for simulating different scenarios in an in-car environment. The software layer was also connected with mobile devices and hardware devices such as a steering wheel on the bucks, voice input devices. A node server was set up for device communication.
This prototype contributed to the decision making at the early stage of product development.
- Help to check the kinematic movement and facial animation in different angles.
- Help to validate the logics of different use cases.
- Help to validate the voice script and source the right voice actor/actress.
- Help the platform engineers to design the real product architecture.
