Show Where Decoration Is Allowed, First
■ Staff naturally want to dress up the machines they work beside
The longer a robot stays on a ward, the more people want to decorate it. A Halloween pumpkin cap for the children is goodwill, and a sign the machine belongs. The problem is that no one decided where it goes.
■ Once it covers the screen, a hat becomes a blindfold
For Hakobukun, the screen is its face and its window forward. One slip of the cap and that window is gone. Moving blind, it spins and bumps the wall — a hit with the kids, a failure as delivery. Decoration looks cosmetic, but it is an input problem.
■ Conclusion: Hand over the decoration zone before anyone starts decorating
Makihara doesn't take the cap away; he cuts a hole where the sensor looks out. The decoration stays, and so does the view. The designer's job is not to ban decoration but to mark, early, the one place that must stay clear.
Let people decorate. Just show them what stays uncovered.
