HAND WASHING CARNIVAL

(EXPERIENCE DESIGN STUDENT PROJECT - GEORGIA TECH, 2018)

Children's Hospital of Atlanta (CHOA) has many small children as visiting patients that must wait for hours in their common waiting room. The hospital requested a tool to keep the children entertained while they wait.

Client: Children's Hospital of Atlanta (CHOA)

User: 3-4-year old children

Team: 3 industrial design students

Total project time: 6 weeks | Design time: 4 weeks | Construction time: 2 weeks

User goals:

Visiting child patients be entertained and relaxed as they wait
Safe and hygienic for small children

Venue: Children's Hospital of Atlanta waiting area

My role: Concept development in the team, physical prototype design, and construction

Tools used: Solid works, Arduino, woodworking

USER STUDY

Children tend to use their hands to interact with anything they encounter in daily life, especially in an unfamiliar environment and gather many germs by touching surroundings at the hospital which are inhabited by other sick patients. However, children also rarely wash their hands well and need to be taught the correct way

Children learn better through games, with visual and audio affirmation
CHOA like other hospitals encourages hygiene by providing sanitizer stations around the hospital
The CDC states that the use of sanitizer is not safe for children and encourages hand washing instead

DESIGN OBJECTIVE

Integrating hand-washing knowledge into an interactive installation in the waiting area of the children hospital of Atlanta thus keeping children entertained while they learn a useful life skill.

DESIGN CONCEPT

The hand washing process prescribed by CDC is simplified into a simple 3 step process; soap, scrub and rinse. Three artifacts representing the 3 steps have to be taken to their "home" in order for children to complete the game. This should teach them the 3 step hand washing process. Audio feedback lets the children know if their selection is correct and when they get the correct answer an animation representing that step runs through in a zoetrope. On completion of all 3 steps, a hand washing song with lights entertains the children.

CAD MODEL

ZOETROPE CONSTRUCTION

Rotating zoetrope and a moving artifact puzzle panel are the two moving elements of this design
Physical zoetrope was chosen instead of digital panels to make the animation novel for the children

INTERACTION

The 3 step process of Soap, Scrub, and Rinse is depicted by a soap bar, bubbles, and a faucet knob respectively.

RFIDs under each artifact is read by RFID readers when they land at step's 'home'. On landing at the correct step, a small DC motor is triggered that turns the zoetrope. LED strips also light up for each zoetrope. On completion of all 3 steps in the right order, a hand washing song plays.

ELECTRONICS

PROTOTYPE CONSTRUCTION AND ASSEMBLY

Wooden structure pieces are cut with a CNC mill.
The artifacts are 3D printed and finished with paint.
The top of the wooden base is covered with clear resin and painted to depict water

Painted PVC pipes were used to hold the zoetrope at different levels
RFIDs, DC motors and LED strips were controlled through an Arduino Mega and an external 12V power bank of 8 AA batteries.

USER TESTING

The interaction is tested with some first-time users and feedback is noted.
It is noted that more audio feedback is required in the process to make the user experience more effective.

Tanvi Designs