Do you know Ted?

Challenge

Learning should involve all the senses. Children in particular should spend as much time as possible investigating a subject in order to memorize information effectively. However children tend to get bored very quickly and do not want to sit still for a long time.

Solution / Overview

Ted is a fluffy educational game teddy for children aged between two and six. Children can learn the names of colours, directions, and identify common fruits and vegetables (categories). Ted gives instructions such as: “Press my red/right hand.” or “Give me the tomato.” If the answer is wrong, Ted encourages the child to try again and repeats the task. Depending on the child’s knowledge and skills it can choose from three levels of difficulty. These differ in the number of questions asked, the categories Ted asks about and the support given. In Easy Mode, he asks five questions (only colours) and assists by displaying an image and giving audio cues. In Medium Mode, he requests ten tasks from all the categories and assists throughout by showing images and giving audio cues. In Hard Mode, the difficulty is increased by reducing the amount of help Ted provides to the child. He does not support his questions visually, instead only his fur is visible on the screen. At the end a song is played and a cheering teddy is shown.

Process and Methods

The goal was to make the interactions as simple as possible for a child to understand and ensure that learning is fun. Sketches, wireframes and story boards were created before the prototype was implemented.

Story Board

The story board served to define a concept, essential features and forms of interaction.

Result: Decision on wording (e.g. paw or hand and foot), difficulty levels and form of interaction.

Wireframe

The goal was to see if the concept works, to create a more detailed flow of interaction for the prototype and iterate on the ideas.

Result: Refinement of the flow of interaction, decision on categories, questions, responses (sounds/voice) and design.

Prototype

The goal was to breathe life into Ted and see, if the idea works.

Result: The flow of interaction works well. Buttons should be bigger and a multi-player mode could be added.

Tools and Technology Summary

• Desk Research to learn about existing approaches on game design and user experience methods
• Story Board to create a concept
• Wireframe to refine the concept and the flow of the interaction
• Prototyping to breathe life into Ted
• Paper and Pen for concept design, idea generation, story board and wireframe
• Tailor Tools (needle, thread, fabric, and scissors) to create Ted
• Adobe Photoshop for visual design
• audacity for responses, answers, requests and sound effects
• Latex for documentation
• Android SDK for the display on Ted's stomach
• Arduino (TinkerKit, RFID-reader, RFID-tags and switches) to answer the requests physically