Intrepidus| Sleep Shift Scheduling Tool
Sleep Shift Scheduling Tool
Intrepidus
Summary
Intrepidus is not only a sleep-shift scheduling app, but an astronaut’s sleep companion. In addition to generating your sleep shift schedule the app also generates your meal plans and exercise regime to ensure optimal nutrition and fitness for your time in space. The character ‘Shift Sheep’(who lives on Intrepidus’ user interface) will give you tips on what appropriate countermeasures you can take to mitigate fatigue depending on the time on your schedule. It takes the scheduling app to the next level of a personalised and fully-automated experience.
How We Addressed This Challenge
Fatigue is a major risk factor in space travel. It can affect work performance, safety and their wellbeing in an environment that is already rife with other potential risks such as isolation and muscle deterioration.
Intrepidus takes a holistic approach to sleep scheduling. Nutrition, exercise and sleep are co-dependent and our app treats them that way. The design of Intrepidus combines an instinctively recognised format and engaging design.
How We Developed This Project
We developed our project through performing research on what current sleep scheduling tools look like and what could be improved. We began by wireframing possible solutions to include all the prerequisites and incorporate the exercise and nutrition options to our design. Once we had the wireframe we began by implementing the front-end, and continuously improving our initial design to create a high-quality experience for the viewer.
Our team implemented our design plans using Flutter to develop a mobile application that would work for both IOS and Android. We incorporated Firebase into our application in order to store user data in the cloud so we would be able to persist it.
How We Used Space Agency Data in This Project
Our design decisions are informed by sleep studies from NASA, the ISS as well as studies on jet-lag and shift workers. We extracted a variety of relevant information such as the optimal shift schedules when changing the time zones, menus aboard the ISS, and how the implementation of the Dynamic Light Schedule is based on the effects of blue light on sleep.
Project Code
Data & Resources
Mallis, Melissa & Mejdal, S. (2003). Development of the Astronaut Scheduling Assistant: A Biomathematical Model to Predict Alertness and Fatigue in Astronauts.
Robert L Sack, MD, Dennis Auckley, MD, R. Robert Auger, MD, Mary A. Carskadon, PhD, Kenneth P. Wright, Jr, PhD, Michael V. Vitiello, PhD, Irina V. Zhdanova, MD, Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders: Part I, Basic Principles, Shift Work and Jet Lag Disorders, Sleep, Volume 30, Issue 11, November 2007, Pages 1460–1483, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/30.11.1460
Testing Solid State Lighting Countermeasures to Improve Circadian Adaptation, Sleep and Performance During High Fidelity Analog and Flight Studies for ISS. www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiemnt/explorer/investigation.html?#id=2013
Space Food and Nutrition: An Educator’s Guide with Activities in Maths and Science
https://www.nasa.gov/pdf/143163main_Space.Food.and.Nutrition.pdf
O’Neill, Sean. “Online Calculators Combat Jet Lag.” BBC, BBC, 1 May 2013, www.bbc.com/travel/story/20130430-online-calculators-combat-jet-lag.