Project 1 - Lullaby Doll
Overview
For project 1, we are tasked with creating a working prototype for an Interactive Toy. The project is intended to help us learn about our audience (what are their goals and motivations?), and to start thinking about how certain components will be purposeful in designing the toy for a particular environment or use case.
Proposal
Description (Purpose + User)
For my project, I wan to create a toy intended for a child that doubles not only as a doll but also has something that will aid in helping them feel comfort when falling asleep. The doll will be durable and as plush as a stuffed animal, unisex in design with a heating pad element that gives a certain effect of a warm fuzzy, and an element that plays a lullaby with LEDS that go to the soothing sound of the doll's music. This doll is meant to be something as a comfort element that allows a child to interact with it by pushing a button to choose from 3 different simple tunes, turning on/off the light effect as well as the heating pad component. The intended use is for comfort at night but also can transform into a companion during the day.
How it will be built
The toy will be built using the mircocontrollers listed below. After the circuits are built, I will use Arduino prototyping environment to constructing the function that need to be called when various buttons and switches are pressed. I think a question that will come up is how I will safely build a prototype where the enclosure (a physical stuffed doll) will have access to the buttons while providing a safe environment so the inside electronics are out of a child’s reach. These will be heavily documented during the prototyping stage. Another question that will be posed is if this idea is too ambitious for the time constraint.
Materials
Need:
- LilyTwinkle MicroController
- LilyPad Button Board
- LilyPad Coin Cell Battery Holder
- LilyPad MP3
- Heating Pad
- Felt + Fabric
- Safe Plush that can react to electronics well
