kaptis — Dip's Portfolio

Kaptis

Group project • Four months • Tablet/PC

Kaptis is a four-month collegiate project, collaboratively developed by a team of four, designed for our client, Springlabs—a Dutch startup specializing in smart toys for children.

Our task was to design a smart object that promotes active, playful learning in Dutch primary schools, aligning with Springlab's innovative movement-learning solutions for children.

Background

What does the client want?

A growing amount of studies point to the fact that through active experiences, not only do children learn better, but it also benefits their health and may develop their socio-emotional skills.

We found that there is a developing trend in the teaching methods of primary schools (ages 6-10) which involve an increasing amount of sedentary learning. Coupled with an increased use of screen time inside and outside the classroom, the amount of time for physically active play in children’s lives are decreasing.

The client, Springlab, is dedicated to advancing this concept of movement-learning in Dutch primary schools. Their product Beweegvloer is a smart projector, and is the first of their solutions in reforming traditional teaching methods. Programmed with educational games, the projector points to the floor, and can detect children’s movements and interactions with the objects “on screen.”

The goal?

Our design goal was to craft an Arduino-based interactive toy that promotes active, multisensory learning for children in Dutch primary schools. This innovative tool must serve as a flexible platform, allowing Springlab and educators to adapt it to the school curriculum. It should encourage a shift towards engaging, active learning environments.

Define

9 of 10 are worried about students spending too much screen time daily

of teachers interviewed are interested in adding a new tool or toy to their day to day to keep children engaged

100%

expressed some concerns about troubleshooting and learning with new tools or toys

3 in 5

The target group…

The primary target group for our project is Dutch primary school teachers, crucial facilitators who bridge the gap between our client’s objectives and the end users—schoolchildren aged 6-10. A deep understanding and empathy towards the teachers are essential, as they are pivotal in delivering and implementing the envisioned experience through the product.

The designed product shouldn’t be intended to serve as a replacement for teachers; instead, it’s envisioned as a valuable tool that amplifies their teaching efficacy without diverting the students’ focus and attention away from the instructional process. Ensuring that the product is perceived as beneficial and valuable by the teachers is crucial for its successful adoption and implementation.

The needs and values of the children, as the main product users, must be held in high regard and considered paramount during all stages of the design process as well.

Empathizing

A group of teachers were interviewed to better understand their needs as the target group. All teachers agreed that at the end of the day they want their pupils to have a fulfilling school curriculum that they are enthusiastic about.

One teacher claimed that embracing technology is the only way forward:

“whether we like it or not, children are using screens at younger ages these days so we have to invite screens into the classroom in a healthy way, I think.”

After a brief discussion within the group we came up with some distinct categories for brainstorming that we could use as a framework to ideate with: wearable, handheld, modular/mobile, and stationary. These were used as headings on paper. In this method, each group member had two minutes to sketch an idea and pass the paper to the next person. After a few minutes, the result was a mix of many ideas.

Ideate

Diverging

There is an endless choice of diverging methods, and by tweaking a few we came up with this unique method to ideate. There were some concerns about feasibility for the final product, so we also ideated focusing on which sensors and actuators would be needed for the Arduino to get each idea and movement to work.

Converging

Methodically converging for potential solutions is vital. This structured approach not only streamlines the selection process but also ensures that the final concept chosen is both innovative and viable. This process ensures success in the subsequent development stages.

The DATUM method was used first for converging, in which each idea favored by the team is evaluated in a table comparatively against a few criteria: cost, repair, durability, safety, cleaning, and duration (of the proposed games). This narrowed down the choices between a few ideas, and then the vALUE method was used in which advantages, limitations, unique elements are written out for each idea.

Though the Pivot Point created some turmoil, we got back on track and it was time to bring the idea to life.

To illustrate the concept and understand which areas needed development next, we storyboarded.

Create

The next pieces of the puzzle:

• decide the form that the base and handheld object will take
• develop rules and ideas for the game(s) that accompany this concept
• programming and wiring the Arduino, setting up the RFID tags accordingly
• UI/UX of the “base”

We were thrown headfirst into the creation stage as we were unexpectedly given a date and time where we would have a chance for interim user testing. To make the most of this opportunity, we started by developing the rules and ideas for the games. We were told by teachers that the current curriculum for 8-10 year olds was covering the subject of renewable energy.

Mission brief: user testing #1

Aim: To validate the concept and gameplay of "Kaptis," ensuring it holds the attention of the age group provided for testing (8-10).

Process: A simple paper version of the game was created. In order to stay on theme with the curriculum being used in the classroom, the game explored the parts and processes of a hydroelectric power plant. Through this game children would learn the process and be able to assemble from memory. We made this paper version keeping the possibility open to expand the concept and make a version that covered other green power plants.

The game was explained to children and the intermediate device we tested was a frisbeee.

Result: The testing group of around eight children were excited about the game. We divided the children into two groups so they could compete against each other.As their teachers had touched on the subject matter, they were knowledgeable and open to learning to make the game work. We noticed some natural leaders emerge from each group that helped their teammates when they were confused about the correct answer. This also caused healthy competition.

Conclusion: The concept was overall quite successful. The children were quick to learn. The main issue that we needed to fix was that the frisbee was difficult to use for them as many of them could not throw it straight. Especially in the indoor environment, it seemed dangerous to use a frisbee. After some discussion we decided to move forward with a ball form instead.

Knowing this concept would be successful and with a renewed sense of confidence, we moved forward with assembling and programming the ball with the arduino, and designing as well as planning out the rest of the games.

Backend: the Arduino code needed for the concept to work

Technical flow: what the tablet will display as the game is played

Power plant game flow

Deciding on a palette, typeface, icons

Sketching very simple wireframes

Testing Arduino wiring

A very simple UI was created, designed for tablets, laptops, projectors, and TV screens. The color palette used was taken from the client Springlab’s own brand. The UI was intended to be very simplistic, to make set up straightforward and for children to understand the relevant screens. The menus and screens during the setup phase for the teacher have a dark purple background, and in-game modes have a bright yellow background, differentiating the two uses.

As is well known in design practices, combining yellow and black offers very high contrast. This is ideal as children will be able to perceive what is happening on the screen even from a small distance.

Mission brief: user testing #2

Aim: To test the prototyped product in its final stages, and if the games designed are successful for the age group provided for testing (6-7).

Process: An early version of the interface was created using Powerpoint. When certain buttons were pressed, the screen moved to another slide, emulating how the software would work. A spelling game was developed, for children to learn how to spell longer words, such as “fireman” in Dutch, “brandweerman.”

The game was explained to children and the RFID tags with letters assigned were scattered around the environment.

Result: The children were very excited to play this game and demonstrated teamwork as they encouraged each other, throwing the ball back and forth and scanning tags.

Conclusion: The game was very successful. The second working prototype ball had some issues when it was thrown and a wire became disconnected. This meant we had to open both balls again and double check the soldering and taping to ensure it was all well connected before the final testing with age group 8-10. No adjustments needed to be made to the UI as it worked well.

Outcome

Tapping a ball to an RFID chip

Finished, working prototype

Explanation of how to play the game for children on final testing day

Reflection

On the final day the project was tested one final time to the older age group. With everything polished off, we were lucky to have a smart touchscreen TV available to us where we could display the UI throughout the game, as we had only tested with computers and tablets before. This turned up the pressure for the competing teams as they played, as they could see each team’s progress.

Teachers observed as the children played rarely making mistakes and able to piece together the various types of powerplants integrated in the game. They were very impressed at how quickly they could learn from this game, and how customizable this was.

A few of them said they would certainly use a product like this in their classroom in the future.

With the product being a huge success, on the day of the Official Exposition, it was rewarding to present the final product to the client. Although the Pivot Point had thrown a wrench in our plans and process, after going back to the drawing board we returned with a concept stronger than any of the previous ideas, and it was a huge hit. The client was pleased with the result and very interested in the process of how we constructed the ball and developed the games.

Despite those few hurdles and even some interpersonal issues within the team, the project successfully met the initial goal we had set out with, to create a multisensory product using Arduino to promote active learning in the classroom.