Tune Pals
Musical Pals who encourage movement in kids with limited physical abilities
TUNE PALS
Collaboration With
Rhode Island School of Design
MIT Engineering
MIT School of Management
My Role
Product Designer, UX Design Lead
Meet Rafi
Rafi is a 14 year old boy who loves to listen to music (Ed Sheeran to be exact), goes to school, and has physical therapy (PT) every day. Rafi dislikes PT and does not find it enjoyable at all. There are few pieces of equipment that can help make PT more fun, however, according to his teacher, those products cost around $2,500
Challenge
Design a product for children with quadriplegia to interact with in a physical way that provides excercise, fun and builds confidence.
Solution
Musical Pals who encourage movement in kids with limited physical abilities.
Lights up when interacted with to affirm and encourage
Sensor eyes to detect motion
Speaker facing user
Rounded and weighted bottom to not tip over
Bright colors and playful shapes
Process
Research & Discovery
1
Research
existing products & conduct interviews
Institutions
Users
Experts
04
33
16
2
create concepts and ideate the best ones
Concepts
Sketches to address user needs
15
Integrated concepts
3
Prototypes
1
Tune Pals
100
3
User Testing
test MVP prototype with users
Gain feedback from the user at every step. We received verbal comments on initial concepts and tested minimal prototypes.
Decisions driven by testing:
- shape
- attachment method
- game concepts
- additional features
Testing sensors and sound
Talking and testing with users like Rafi answered all of our questions on form, attachment, and additional features. Some conclusions that we drew:
1. Sensors need to be raised off the table
2. Object must not be able to fall over ( weeble wobble inspiration )
3. Additonal Feature: App to personalize & communicate between the caregiver and parent
4. Movable objects ( users vary greatly in level of physical ability )
4
FORM STUDIES
exploring shape and form
We explored forms though sketches, physical clay, blue foam & Rhino modeling.
Blue foam for quick life size prototyping
Quick drawings to mimic where sensors would be
Cutout to fit a real speaker on the pal
Weighted bottom using clay to test "weeble wobble" effect
5
Final Prototype
form exploration, 3D-printing, and wiring
Final prototypes were modeled in Solidworks and 3D printed, sanded and painted to mimic the look of an injection molded piece.
Final prototype being tested with Rafi
Meet the Team
Alex Breton
Beth Cholst
Elyud Ismail
Georgia Van de Zande
Lillian Krieger
Lily Fan
Mimi Tsai
Mounir Ouhadi