A co-Design approach to develop a smart cooking appliance. Applying a Domain Specific Language for a community supported appliance

TL;DR

This paper presents a co-Design methodology for creating a community-supported smart cooking appliance using a custom Domain Specific Language to enhance independence for users with disabilities during meal preparation.

Contribution

It introduces a novel co-Design approach and a tailored DSL to develop a semi-automated cooking appliance supporting user independence.

Findings

Prototype of a community-supported appliance developed

DSL effectively expressed user-centered cooking processes

Supports independence for users with disabilities

Abstract

Our environment, whether at work, in public spaces, or at home, is becoming more connected, and increasingly responsive. Meal preparation even when it involves simply heating ready-made food can be perceived as a complex process for people with disabilities. This research aimed to prototype, using a co-Design approach a Community Supported Appliance (CSA) by developing a Domain Specific Language (DSL), precisely created for a semi-automated cooking process. The DSL was shaped and expressed in the idiom of the users and allowed the CSA to support independence for users while performing daily cooking activities.