RESEARCHER | DESIGNER | ENGINEER
I thrive being comfortable with the uncomfortable. I look to uncover the logic buried within the mess.
Creating a concept system for iRobot to motivate children to be their parent's ally in the home.
CLIENT iRobot
PROJECT Graduate Human-Centered Design Strategy Course at Northwestern University
INDUSTRY Consumer Tech
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ROLE Insight development, concept system story creation
CHALLENGE.
iRobot came to my team with the prompt: how might iRobot be a thoughtful partner in people's homes through smart home connectivity?
OUTCOME.
For busy parents who are exhausted from cleaning up after their young children, Cooperative Creatures relieves this burden by motivating children to pick up their toys through co-working and gamification with the Roomba. This concept system, built with multiple touchpoints, leverages current capabilities with strategic partnerships that enable a new, disruptive business model.
"It has become routine to use [robots/smart-tech] to simplify
home-life or give you back more time"
Secondary Research
In order to better understand the problem landscape, we looked into the best practices surrounding
robot-human partnerships, how to build empathy for robots, the relationship between children and technology, and the latest tech trends for young children.
Shelly the Robot
"The idea is to reduce or eliminate aggressive behaviors when interacting with the device"
"Children often have difficulty transferring what's learned on screens to the real world, but 'learning can be enhanced when such constraints are considered'"
"Roblox is a fantastic learning platform for 7-year-olds. In fact, we'd argue that Roblox is one of the best ways to introduce coding for kids"
Interview Synthesis
Following user interviews, we were able to group our observations into themes that would lead us to develop our key insights.
"My older son learned from me... he uses [Alexa] every morning and night to turn on and off the lights." - Sibin
Key Insights
After solo-storming insights, my team
co-created two main insights to inform our design decisions.
The User Journey
It was important to understand the current practices surrounding cleaning with a robotic vacuum and where user's currently feel 'pain'
Framework Creation
To visualize the importance of our insights to the client, we worked through trying out different frameworks.
HMWs to Ideation
Our insights were also used to develop how might we statements that we then used for brainstorm concept solutions.
Looking at the Big Picture
Through telling the user story, our team was able to identify the strongest concepts that could be weaved together to create a system that laddered up to the organization’s mission and future-state
Making a Complete Concept System
These concepts were then looked at through how they would interact as the entire concept system. We identified which concepts would serve as a step, stretch, or leap for iRobot.
Connecting back to the Business Model
Before handing off our system to iRobot, we used this business model framework to demonstrate the rationale of how an iRobot will create, deliver, and capture value.
Final Concept
Our final concept keyed into our insights of alliance and reliability by creating Cooperative Creatures. For busy parents who are exhausted from cleaning up after their young children, Cooperative Creatures relieves this burden by motivating children to pick up their toys through co-working and gamification with the Roomba. This concept system, built with multiple touchpoints, leverages current capabilities with strategic partnerships that enable a new, disruptive business model.
