Office Personal Assistant. Towards a Design and AI Approach

This article aims to lay the foundations for the development of an office system that incorporates essential equipment to work in an office and that through a mobile application and a robotic system allows users to configure the space according to the needs, as well as the use of artificial intelligence in adapting the space to the physical, lighting and ergonomic characteristics of the workers. The article describes the problems inherent in the current workspace and the way this work is carried out, as well as some of the future trends for the configuration of space and equipment that need to be reformulated and adapted to the needs of the digital evolution present in the way we relate and perform the work now and in the future. It also describes the state of the art of solutions proposed by the main brands of office equipment, as well as automation solutions present in the literature. Based on this information, a working concept is presented for the development of an office personal assistant, equipped by a robotic brain that, through a mobile application, positions a series of equipment in space, such as a workstation, a pod, a wall system and lighting. The method used to develop the concept in its different phases is also described, as well as the activities inherent to each phase. The proposed method combines development techniques specific to product and interaction design, automation and software development, as well as techniques for extracting needs used by the social sciences.