Massimiliano Zecca, Ph.D.

All is packed up now, as you can see in the picture. Just a bit over 3 years since I joined Loughborough University in 2014, it's time to leave my old W2.61 office and move to a new, exciting location! 😀 Starting from tomorrow (well, technically today, as it's just past 2AM now) these are my new contact info: Michael Pearson East, LP1.1.05 Sports Technology Institute Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering Loughborough University Loughborough, Leics LE11 3TU, UK Tel: +44 (0)1509 227122 Sports tech, here I come! 😀

Designing Workplaces That Think About Everyone: Our New Research on Cognitive Load and Inclusion

I'm excited to share some recent research I've been involved in, just published in Sensors : 👉 Fuzzy-Based Sensor Fusion for Cognitive Load Assessment in Inclusive Manufacturing Strategies At its core, this study looks at how we can make manufacturing environments more inclusive—starting from people with neurodiverse profiles like dyslexia (the easiest to simulate with healthy participants), and laying down the framework to help all types of neuroatypical operators. We designed a system that uses wearable sensors to track things like heart rate, electrodermal activity, and eye movement while participants completed assembly tasks. Then we fed that data into a fuzzy logic model to estimate their cognitive load —basically, how mentally demanding each task was. Oh, and yes—we used Duplo bricks for the assembly tasks. A great excuse to bring colourful plastic blocks into the lab and call it serious science. No regrets. ;-) Some of what we found: 🧠 Cognitive load shoots up ...

📝 Perceptions of In-home Monitoring Technology for Activities of Daily Living 📝

Our paper on the " Perceptions of In-home Monitoring Technology for Activities of Daily Living: Semistructured Interview Study With Community-Dwelling Older Adults " was just published on JMIR Aging 2022;5(2):e33714 doi:10.2196/33714 ! Thanks co-authors Nicola Camp, Julie Johnston, Martin G C Lewis, Alessandro Di Nuovo, Kirsty Hunter and Daniele Magistro for the excellent work! Many older adults want to stay in their own homes for as long as possible. However, it can be difficult to make sure they can live independently. One solution that is being considered is using technology to monitor them. However, there is still disagreement about what activities should be monitored and what technology should be used. This study looked at what older adults think are important daily activities and what technology they would be willing to use in their homes. Researchers talked to 32 older adults in the UK, with half being between 55 and 69 years old and the other half being 70 or older....

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