Pal: AI Friend for Children
Thousands of kids in America experience social withdrawal from their peers at ages as young as four. To help assist them grow their social skills and encourage engagement with the outdoors and their peers, my team designed Pal.
Pal is an IoT Device paired with a tablet application which uses artificial intelligence to track the child’s location, their proximity to other pal users, and encourage group play both inside and outdoors.
Team Roles:
Gwendolyn Leister: UX Design, Graphics, Research, Production & Ideation
JC Fennell: UX Design, Graphics, Production, Research, & Ideation
Jen Wang: UX Design, Research, & Ideation
THE Problem
Social withdrawal in children can start at a young age and often these children do not learn how to maintain healthy relationships.
THE Goal
Create a low risk voice assistant to help these children make new friends, connect them with their busy parents, and encourage expressing their emotions.
Vision Video
“42% of children that were rated as highly shy in early childhood then had anxiety problems in adolescence.”
“Socially withdrawn children are concurrently and predictively at risk for a range of negative adjustment outcomes.”
User Studies
Study #1: Only Child
One child with one of two working parent
Parental Interview, Child Interview, Robot Rating & Analysis, and Current Environment Study
Study #2: Siblings
Two children with their two working parents
Group Interviews, Robot Rating & Analysis, Board Game Exercise, and Parental Interviews
Study #3: Friends & Siblings
Five children from three different families
Group Sketching, Character Ideation, 1 on 1 Interviews, Drawing and Questionnaire Packets
Badges & Draw
Sun-Meter & Friends
Base station
The Pal kit comes with a traveling Pal, as well as a stationary base for the kid and their friends to dock their traveling Pals for group activities.