This is Baboo
This is Baboo
Baboo is a cute huggable creature that is always ready to listen to what kids have to say. Together with your child you can talk to Baboo about anything you want! He or she can tell him about that awesome theme park they went to, and show him all the cool presents he or she got for their birthday. Or simply tell Baboo about your day, anything goes! While you and your child talk to him, Baboo is recording the conversation with a
small camera in his beak. However, in the eyes of a child you're not recording a movie with a camera, you're 'talking with' and 'showing something to' a friend. With Baboo you'll spend precious time talking with your child(ren) about whatever's going on in their life, while building up a collection of spontaneous conversations you can watch back anytime. Baboo was designed for the HEMA design competition.
Process
Process
Baboo was developed using the Vision in Product design (ViP) method. In this method you postpone the development of the product or service itself. Instead, you focus on what the product should mean through the development of a vision. This starts with the gathering of 'factors': observations about a certain domain. In my case the domain was Organize Your
Memories. These factors, and the relationships between them, form your context. Next you decide what your product should mean within that context, articulated in a vision, interaction statement and product qualities. The vision for this project can be seen below.
It's not until after the vision is formulated that the actual product development starts. Thanks to the ViP process I had a very clear idea of what I wanted. After a period of pondering the possible directions the project could take, I soon settled on the idea of Baboo; an idea that truly resonated with me.
It perfectly matched the vision I'd developed, and felt like a unique product that parents and their children would actually want to use. After encouraging reactions from people within the target group I set off to design Baboo and create a physical model which can be seen above.
Using Baboo
Using Baboo
To start talking to Baboo you can simply press a button hidden it its right wing. As Baboo starts recording he whistles a short note and a soft light starts glowing above his beak. Press the button again to turn Baboo off.
Baboo's ligth starts glowing in a different colour if his battery or storage space is running out. Baboo can be connected to a computer to charge the battery and retrieve the recordings through a USB-cable hidden in a pouch in his back.