Bondie
#IoT #Figma #Soft Robotics
A baby care product that reimagines the parent-child interaction when they are away from them. It creates different sensory experiences to strengthen the parent-child bond.
Timeline
Oct - Dec 2022 (2 months)
Project Type
Group Project
Team
Yidie Ling (technologist), Samriddho Ghosh (prototyper), Nian Tong (prototyper), Yemoon Cho (designer)
Tools
ESP32 Wifi, FSR Sensor, Pulse Sensor, Vibration Sensor, Heating Pad, Servo, Air Pump, Pipes
My Contribution
Product Managing: direct and plan the project development; organize teams on specific tasks; communicate with team members
Programming: develop the interactive programming system; build electronic component of the prototype
Background
Problem
As the world returns to normal and parents move out for work and other chores, leaving their children alone or without undivided attention has become a major problem for parents. Current solutions in the market, be it baby cameras or any other technological intervention caters to only the visual senses.
Challenge
Problem Statement
How might we make the interaction between parent and kids more intimate and natural when the parent is physically away from their kids?
Research process
Research 01: Competitor Analysis
After defining the scope of the problem, our team developed competitive analysis on existing baby care products to understand the market need, use of technology and find opportunity for a new product.
Research 02: User Interviews
In order to empathize with the parent users, our team conducted in 7 in-depth interviews with potential parent users, our team identified who the users are, understood their journey, analyzed their attitude towards existing products and captured the need for a more intimate, emotional connection with their children remotely.
Synthesis process
Synthesis: Empathize
With the information we gathered from interviews, we synthesized our findings and created persona profile, user journey and 2x2 synthesis graph. Afterwards, we brainstormed 100 ideas how we could solve the problem.
Ideate process
Ideate 01: Brainstorm
After understanding who the users are, what the users need, we start the brainstorming process with 100 ideas. In a one-hour brainstorm session, we wrote down all the ideas, no matter how crazy they sound.
Ideate 02: Concept
Among our ideas, we selected one that stood out: haptic communication through objects, a blanket for parent to provide warmth and comfort, a toy for child to offer attention and playful moments. We mapped out the haptic sensations as breathing, warmth, grasp and touch, with different frequency patterns.
Prototype process
Prototype 01: Material Experiment
In order to simulate human skin-to-skin and touching movement, we experimented with pumping air into different soft materials including plastics, vinyl sheet and silicon. We documented the change in shape, form and volume, and we tested on users to see whether it does simulate close contact. We got the inspiration from aeroMorph, an MIT Media Lab project of making origami structure with inflatables.
inspiration: aeroMorph from Tangible Media Group, MIT
Prototype 02: Assemble Air Pumping System with Electronics
We chose vinyl and used a sewing machine to seal parts of the double layered structure based on the principles of origami. This not only gave us flexibility to build complex geometries but also sped up the fabrication process. We completed installation of electrical components into a blanket for assembly.
Design process
Interaction Design
The final interaction design included two-way WIFI communication between the blanket for parent and toy for kid. Each side has its own inputs and outputs, and there is a mobile app for the parent to oversee the whole interaction in case of special situation.
Outcome
Final Design
Together, Bondie creates intimate connection for parent and kid through haptic, sensory interactions remotely. The parent can feel child's heartbeat from the warmth in blanket, and the child can feel parent's presence from vibration, sound and warmth.
Bondie demonstrates the future of and beyond parent-child relationship, but rather all kinds of relationships that can enjoy richer connection over distance with haptic experiences and emerging technologies. We aim to use human-centered design and technologies to re-create more and more valuable experiences.
