Workspace characteristics affect the perceived comfort level of the operator and discomfort working conditions impact negatively on productivity and safety. In the project users with various levels of expertise have been involved in a 2x2 mixed-factorial experimental design. A dynamic assessment of the cabs of two medium power utility tractors of different brands was conducted.

Based on user-centered design perspective and iterative design, a usability evaluation of a fully operational prototype of a teleoperated compost spreader was performed. Besides eliminating operator’s exposure to vibration, the main advantage of remotely controlling the machine is the reduction of operator’s risks.

While motor-manual short-wood harvesting still dominates Italian forest operations, there is a growing interest to introduce mechanization in order to reduce logging costs and increase work safety and comfort. Against this background, a survey was conducted for determining the attitudes of North Italian logging contractors towards mechanized Cut-to-Length (CTL) technology and to evaluate the potential of machine simulators when introducing mechanized harvesting for prospective users.

Latest advancements in tractors engineering allowed farmers to cover more land at a faster pace, and to reduce operator’s hazards. The project investigates Italian farmers beliefs, opinions and behaviors on technological innovations applied on agricultural tractors, as well as on innovations that could become available in the next future. Three different user profiles emerged from the analysis.

Co-funded by the European Commission, the project aimed at developing a social mediator robot, empowering children who are prevented from playing to discover range of play styles from solitary to social and cooperative play.
IROMEC is a robot companion that promotes play for physically and cognitive impaired children, in particular autistic, motor impaired and mild cognitive impaired children. The robot can engage in a number of play scenarios like cause and effect games, coordination games, sensory stimulation games, pretend play, imitation games, with defined educational and therapeutic objectives.

The AuRoRa project studies if and how robots can become a "toy" that might serve an educational or therapeutic role for children with autism. The main aim is to engage children with autism in coordinated and synchronized interactions with the environment thus helping them to develop and increase their communication and social interaction skills. Humans are the best models for human social behaviour, but their social behaviour is very subtle, elaborate, and widely unpredictable. Many children with autism are however interested to play with mechanical toys or computers.

The project is an exploratory study involving the design of an after-school robotics class for groups of children at the higher-functioning end of the autistic spectrum. The aim was to foster collaboration among the children in the context of a class where they programmed Lego robots under the guidance of an experimenter.

As part of the RobotCub Project (Robotic Open-architecture Technology for Cognition, Understanding and Behaviours) an empirical study was conducted to investigate the effect of embodiment and minimal gestures in an interactive drumming game consisting of an autonomous child-sized humanoid robot (KASPAR) playing with child participants.

Applying UCD methodology and delivery usability studies for the Next Generation Portal Exploratory research.

The project investigates proactive analysis of risk management, based on professional competence and its relationship to medical error. The work involved a surgical team for two years, studying their competence in action within an activity analysis approach. Results confirmed the role of individual and collective competence in preventing potential errors and develop active ways to reduce risk. These initiatives do not result in any type of contractual or professional infringement when not executed, but they do radically change the quality of the system’s response when implemented.

The project Adone, in collaboration with Telecom Italia Lab, aimed at designing the interface for interactive television services for elderly users in home environments. A particular attention has being given to the exploration of the users’ demand.

VIRTHUALIS (Virtual Reality and Human Factors applications for Improving Safety) is a European project aimed at reducing hazards in production and storage sites. Focusing on hazards primarily caused by human factors, the goal is to identify weak points in plant safety at an early stage, increase plant safety and organize aspects of safety transparently to be able to manage critical situations safely.

The project, in collaboration with Telecom Italia Mobile, assessed the topic of stress and well-being in call centres from three different view-points (psychological/sociological/cultural, physical/chemical/biological, organizational/technological/work-related). Both qualitative methods (interviews, observations, focus-groups) and quantitative methods (questionnaires, physiological response to perceived stress) were applied.

Planning, organization and conduction of training event for nurses and surgeons (ECM credit), in collaboration with the Quality and Training Research Department of the ASL10. Management of al the communication activities related to the training event.