YIBU
An interactive toy bridges the real world and virtual game.
Background
Yibu is an interactive toy for kids, with sensors to connect the real world and virtual game. It was an internal project initially as a part of frogLabs, where encourage experimental projects to discover new opportunities.
I was part of a cross-disciplinary team with interaction and motion designers, industrial designer and design technologist to utilise cutting edge technologies and discover opportunities in China.
I am the interaction designer and design researcher in this project. I helped the team conduct discovery research to define the problem and reveal user insights. With my game design experience, I designed the game mechanism and visualise the concept.
My role
Challenge
Initially, our team did a 'trends scraping'; it is a desk research methodology to understand the latest technologies. We found that the sensing technology would be an exciting area to explore. But how could we use this technology?
Discovery research
We conducted immersive research with parents and children at their home. Here are some problems and enlightening findings.
73% of children aged 3-7 used smartphone and tablets. They spent more hours on the game than playing in the real world.
The deteriorated environment keeps the child stay indoor. As air pollution is one of the biggest environmental problems in China, parents keep their child play indoors.
Most parents give their child an iPad as a toy to educate and entertain them. In many working couples' families, parents don't have enough time with their child. iPad is an easy and cheap way to get many educational resources and games.
Objective and story
Objective
To encourage the children to step out from the virtual world and to explore the real world. We started thinking about how we should stimulate and introduce new technologies.
Story
While our team explored five sensors, we also think about how should we make an engaging story and game to educate the children.
We want to tell the children about the global warming crisis through the story of a small polar bear separated from their mother. Save the little polar bear with five different sensor modules and let him reunite with his mother.
Game Mechanism
Achievements
Challenges
Meaning
Empowerment
Challenges
Combining five sensors, we developed a series of exciting stories. Children need to solve the problems in the game through these sensor modules and complete the challenge.
The challenges are triggered by time, weather, temperature and air quality the real world.
Achievements
The accomplishment will become an emotional drive. When a child completes a challenge and saves a crisis, he/she has shortened the distance from helping the little polar bear to find his mother.
Meaning
We want to educate children to protect the environment with an environmental problem brought about by global warming.
Empowerment
A good game should empower the user's creativity. As the difficulty of the challenge increases, we encourage children to use and combine different modules to solve complex problems.
Sound sensor
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Using the sound sensor to wake up the polar bear in the morning.
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To feed the polar bear, the player has to make sounds to fish 'sushi fishes'.
Temperature sensor
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The weather is too warm in real life; the player has to use the temperature sensor to cool down the weather in the game.
Light sensor
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If the air quality is poor in real life, the player has to illuminate the light sensor and sweep away cloud in the game.
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If it's night time, use the light sensor to wake up the polar bear.
Speed sensor
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To make the game more challengeable, a brown bear is chasing the polar bear. The player has to use the speed sensor and direction sensor together to escape.
Direction sensor
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If the weather is above 30°C in real life, the iceberg is melting. The player needs to use the direction sensor to keep the polar bear on balance. At the same time, putting the temperature sensor to the fridge, so as to cool down the weather in the game.
Domain rental form design
UI/UX Design
User Research
Product Planning
Prototyping & Test
Strategy Design