6 - "Continue Prototyping" Software Documentation

This is the nursery rhymes and stories section. Each story or rhyme has a colourful picture and a title. The device gives spoken instructions to the child as they go along. We have kept each screen just displaying only two stories at a time. This makes it easy for a child to click on large spacious area with a display picture and it is not cluttered together for clarity. There are backward and forward arrows to allow a child to browse through and click on any one at a time.

We have kept different colours to differentiate between stories and nursery rhymes. Whilst some children won’t be able to recognise and learn the colour association, others will be able to allowing them to choose between nursery rhymes and stories.

This is an example of page of a story. The text is read out by the device and highlighted as it is read. The child can press individual words to make the device repeat it. The arrows are used to turn the page. We wanted the device to work similar a book, each screen representing a page.

This is the welcome screen to the drawing section which shows the child a picture of the stylus and asks them to pick it up.

The drawing application allows the child scribble and draw pictures on the screen using the stylus. The stylus works like a pencil in that, the angle in which you hold it determines the thickness. It also has a rubber on the back of the stylus which erases what you have drawn. This is just like a piece of paper with lots of coloured pencils. We have also incorporated Auto save function with our design so it can be viewed later on. We have limited the choice of colours to ten so that they can be easily selected without much confusion. We had considered having a colour palette similar to one in Photoshop, however that could make it confusing for the child and harder for colour selection.

The colouring application provides the child with a “colouring in” picture. The child can use the stylus to select colours and colour in the picture. The left and right buttons can be used to change the picture much like changing a page in a colouring book. The “colouring in” is automatically saved and when you resume the application you are brought back to where you left off.

Here is another example of a colouring in picture.

This is yet another feature which we have incorporated at an intermediate level. It is great for learning as our product features a highly interactive screen which allows a child to learn words with pictures. Our software has hand writing recognition capabilities to recognise child’s input. The left and right buttons can be used to browse alphabet and word challenges. If the child doesn’t like the current challenge they can use the arrows to move on to the next one.

Upon a child entering a correct answer, the system will congratulate the child with a large tick and say “Well done!”. We have decided on a tick as a good symbol for a correct answer and use it throughout all the applications.

‘Copy the Writing’ section allows a child to copy words with a displayed picture. This teaches a child to write and what words mean.

Numbering section is where a child can learn counting with pictures. A scenario is displayed on left hand side and a correct answer is amongst multiple choice options. The device speaks to the child to tell them what to do. The parent control software allows the parent to choose a level of difficulty suitable for their child. The left and right buttons can be used to browse number challenges. If the child doesn’t like the current challenge they can use the arrows to move on to the next one.

Automatic confirmation functionality is being implemented for consistency. The device says encouraging comments to reward the child.

The idea behind this product is aimed at a range of age group is to update the project as we go along. Hence, as parents see a need for intermediate or advanced level, the next set of series or updates can be easily installed from our website.

We are aiming at a multipurpose product which can be used for variety of entertaining things for a toddler. This feature is learning music by recognition and following a sequence of keys pressed on the onscreen keyboard. It helps child to enhance their creativity and also keeps him/her amused for a good learning time. The left and right buttons are used to browse between various musical compositions installed on the device.

We have decided to incorporate this additional camera function as it keeps a child highly entertained. Also, it helps child learn to explore a new technology section which is quite popular with growing kids. The camera is incorporated on the back of the device which means it needs to be held up for it to work. This welcome screen simply tells the child what to do with a picture to get to work with the camera.

The child can move the device around much like a real digital camera. The device gets instructions as to how to take a picture.

Upon taking a picture, the child is prompted as to whether they want to save or delete it. We have used a green tick to indicate Yes and a dustbin for trashing the pictures.

The gallery section allows the child to browse through photos they have taken with the camera. This is a lot like a ‘play’ mode on a real digital camera. There are six thumbnails of photos to a page and the left and right buttons can be used to navigate between pages. Any picture can be pressed to load up a full screen version.