HvA and TU/e have a collaboration with Philips Research under the STEC research project, and this effort aims to explore how physical toys embedded with smart technology such as sensors, speech-recognition and internet connectivity (smart toys) can be used to motivate, teach and help younger people take better care of their oral health. Philips Research and TU/e are interested in identifying design strategies and principles for boosting oral healthcare through playful empowerment by utilizing a set of smart toys with a smart toothbrush from Philips to develop a set of play activities that enable training, education or motivation in oral healthcare.
On a sunny day in late May, students from the Master in Digital Design (HvA), Product Design (HvA) and Industrial Design (TU/e) descended upon the Smart Campus in Eindhoven to show their results of the effort: presenting prototypes, user scenarios and the final steps of their design projects.