Human-Centered Design Tools for Smart Toys

Abstract

AbstractThe smart toy industry faces challenges to achieve Hardware and Software (H&S) integration since numerous products are not generating enduring value propositions to the consumers. It is possible to achieve better H&S integration by following suitable design practices. Here, we propose four Human-Centered Design (HCD) tools for the development of smart toys solutions. The four HCD tools intervene on idea generation, data collection planning, and both low and high-fidelity prototyping of the solutions. The aim is to assist designers, developers, and engineers in producing better H&S integrated solutions by offering tools that meet HCD principles. The primary usage of the HCD tools with 27 graduate students assisted these multidisciplinary teams in creating five prototypes that were positively evaluated by end-users. Technical evaluation checks for the integrity of the prototypes after testing and results show comparative data on battery consumption and list potential privacy and security vulnerabilities. Improvements include adapting ideation tool to incorporate marketing-oriented strategies, authentication and data encryption for the toolkit, and assessing the tools with professional teams of the industry.KeywordsSmart toysRapid prototypingHuman-centered design