Pitch

This week we had our pitches, and everything went successfully. We received some great feedback

The feedback from the pitch generally focuses on the interactions: inputs and outputs, the target user group and the learning topics.

Topic

The team was recommended that we should aim for the final product, so that the technology will not limit our design.

Input

Many people have raised the concern that the interaction with the teddy bear is not suitable for children (Initial concept & Image 1), and it is suggested to let the kids make emotional connections with the toy in order to learn in a comfortable environment. Recommended inputs include clapping, colour identification and voice recognition.

Output

Besides from the glowing ears and voice encouragements, friendly tone and phrases can be used to motivate the kids, such as ‘You are close to the final answer, give it another try’, and music, vibration and heats can also be added to give children more feedback on various senses.

Audience

Another crucial feedback is that the target group is ambiguous regards to the demographic and use case.

Learning topic

The scope of the learning activities is too broad, so that it might be hard for the team to focus on one solution. The potential topic includes Math, English and Colour identifying.

Physical solution

Different types of toys can be developed based on children’s like and different learning goals, such as microphone for English vocabulary pronunciation and fluffy rabbit for kids who like peter rabbit.

Design Evolution

After receiving the feedback we decided to take away / add / alter some of the characteristics of ITSY.

We took away the aggressive input methods such as twisting, smashing etc. as it was not very appropriate for our target audience. Which also narrowed down to 5 year olds, especially parents with 5 year old.