IXD 51

Here’s a look at the second render of the toy that listens..

Early life adversity is a major risk factor for the development of psychological and behavioral problems later in life. Higher rates of depression, suicidal tendencies, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder, and aggressive behavior have been reported in adults who experienced childhood maltreatment.

Traumatic childhood events also contribute to increased drug use and dependence. Initiation of drug-taking behavior begins at a much younger age in those who’ve experienced childhood trauma. Exposure to stressful events in childhood can increase the impact of stressful events throughout life. Add divorce or unemployment to childhood trauma and someone can be more likely to develop psychological disorders or addiction.

Juno is a companion toy that encourages children to share their thoughts and stories. Juno understands the child’s mood and any erratic behaviors by analysing verbal and non verbal conversations using complex computer vision and machining learning models. Juno categorises the adversities faced by the child and pulls in a relevant story from a large collection to narrate to the child. The child feels motivated to fight his adversities, boosting self esteem and confidence. A companion app for parents keeps them well informed about the child’s wellbeing and suggests action items based on the child’s happiness indicator. The companion app suggests early intervention in case any critical adversities faced by the child.

Juno is designed to be a patient listener and positively nudges the child to communicate more. The form factor is designed meticulously and ergonomically to make Juno attractive to kids.  The storytelling model combined with a companion app for the parents make sure that the child never feels neglected. Early intervention ensures that none of the adversities develop into trauma that can have adverse psychological and behavioural impact in later stages of life.

After much deliberation and analysis, we’ve arrived at the conclusion that the final solution is a toy! Not just any toy. This toy listens to you and tells you stories. The reason for choosing the toy as a solution is very deliberate. Among all the objects that a child has access too, they seem to be the most fond of, and spend most of their time with a toy. So much so that they even talk to them! The toy is not just an object but a friend, a confidant and a companion to many children across the world.

Unlike expectations, our toy doesn’t converse like most others. It has the golden trait of listening! Rather than actively conversing, our toy nudges children to speak about their problems to it. As the child starts to open up to the toy, the toy using a combination of machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision better understands the mood and demeanor of the child using verbal and non-verbal cues to better understand the child. Using this information, the toy intelligently extrapolates/uncovers the underlying cause for the child’s distress.

The usual response to this would be to instruct the child or make him feel better with sympathetic conversation. But we chose (with the precedence of established research) to not include such an interaction, which only introduced an additional figure of authority with diminished, if not futile effect.

Our primary interaction is storytelling. Leveraging the power of machine learning, we scan a huge library of pre-existing stories to pick the most encouraging and relevant story for positive intervention to help the child cope better with his/her day.

Mentioned below are the assumptions we operate under for the solution:

Availability of a reliable internet connection (i.e. all stakeholders have access to the internet).

Parents are equipped with smartphones.

Children need immediate feedback and response to generate trust.

While Human intervention may be necessary, there is initial reluctance on the part of child to divulge information.

While children can be helped as a precautionary measure in nascent stages, intervention from a Mental Health professional may be necessary in extreme cases.

Ethical considerations require parental consent. Both in the case of collection of data, and in the context of treatment notification (if applicable).

Using a collection of Verbal Keywords, Non-verbal Leakages and Context, the general mood and behavior of the child can be identified.

Children(in the given demographic age) are usually more trusting and sensitive.

Children enjoy an element of play, and animated/dramatic scenarios.

Parents, while well-intentioned, could lose objectivity in specific cases pertaining to children. 

Children use transitional objects in developmental ages(4-10 y/o) to cope with stressors. These transitional objects are tangible, and of extreme help in experiencing difficult or even traumatic experiences.

Children usually find it difficult to distinguish between reality and make believe( i.e. cannot think in abstractions)  in early-developmental interims until age 9.

Additional Secondary Research References Below: