#sproutel

There Was A Tech Toy That Is More Meaningful Than All Other Tech Combined At Last Week's CES

One of the more touching (if not the most touching...) tech at last week's CES.

Jerry the Bear was brought to life by Sproutel when they saw a need for teaching young children with Type 1 Diabetes how to cope with and manage the disease. Sproutel researched how children play 'doctor' with their stuffed animals and observed their interactions when giving the toys various treatments. Thus the idea for Jerry was born! Jerry is a stuffed bear with a digital twist; children can feed Jerry with various food cards, press his fingers to monitor his glucose levels (shown on an accompanying screen) and then give him the appropriate amount of insulin to keep him healthy. Children can also follow animated storybooks with Jerry and complete tasks in order to unlock new stories. 

Meet Aaron Horowitz from Sproutel

We’re building the Sesame Street of healthcare.

What is Sproutel?

We make learning about chronic illness incredibly fun for little kids.

Why are you passionate about Sproutel?

I was terminally ill as a kid. I had to get an injection every day. In college, I started thinking about how it impacted me. I got involved in a program called Design For America. It’s all about using design thinking to solve problems in your community. We focused on Type 1 diabetes. When we talked to patients, we saw something interesting: children were taking care of animals like they had type 1 diabetes. Using imaginative play to do things they couldn’t do to their own bodies. They could control what their stuffed animals are dong. I started thinking, could we do that in ways that are fun? Could we give them a stuffed animal? Kids take care of their animals – Jerry (the stuffed animal) is a way of making complex things they need to learn and the complicated experience they’re dealing with through playful experiences.

How does it work?

Kids feed jerry foods, check his glucose levels. In his belly there are 21 animated storybooks. All-star story books – each story teaches about a different aspect of health. Helping take care of Jerry helps them win the Olympics. It helps the kids develop empathy and understand what it means to take care of somebody else.

How was Jerry developed?

We tested 29 iterations with over 350 families. Before, it was a teddy bear who was robotic and could do all these things. We surrounded ourselves with experts … With professors who could guide us and mentor us.

We said “hey, we’re a team of 4, we’re going to make a prototype and test it with a kid.” The first version was super creepy and buggy but we were so proud of it. The first test the kid was so excited, he later tore it apart. But he was so excited when we first saw it – we learned a lot in that process but we knew it was a great idea from the get-go.