Exploring Comfort through XAI

Problem

Many households have inefficient heating systems with no remote access — wasted energy, discomfort, higher bills, and no visibility into usage. People need a way to manage heating remotely, cut waste, and understand their consumption.

Goal

An end-to-end app to control the heating system from anywhere, save energy, and see detailed usage reports.

Research

I explored willingness to adopt smart heating, motivations to switch, expected features, and user goals through 12 interviews (ages 25–35, master's degrees, working or studying). A competitive audit revealed a clear gap: no existing app offered a reporting section.

Insight → decision

Users cared deeply about energy saving and its cost and environmental benefits. We made the energy report a core feature and framed savings to motivate everyday use.

Process

• Affinity mapping of research into themes
• Persona + a usage scenario ("Mary", a working mom)
• Ideation and brainstorming
• Low-fi wireframes with early usability tests
• Hi-fi prototype incorporating feedback
• Usability testing with 6 users across 3 iterative rounds

Outcome

A smart-heating app concept: remote temperature control, scheduling, voice commands, real-time monitoring, and the differentiating usage-report feature.

Learnings & limitations

Value user insight over personal assumptions, and own an independent project end to end. The hardest part was explaining XAI decisions clearly when many factors interact — and the concept is part of a larger Siegen research effort with a long implementation horizon.