Smartlab Room Defender

Programmable Room Security System

Team

-Jim Becker

-Betsy Pringle 

My Role

This was a product for Smartlab Toys called Room Defender of which 20k units were made and sold. I designed all the icons, UI/UX, wireframes as well as designed the device itself.

Problem

There is a demand by parents for products that teach coding. Design a toy that introduces the basic principles of coding in a fun way.

Solution

Create a door alarm that illustrates if/then statements. For example, “if” the door is opened “then” the alarm will go off.

Highlights

Here is a young programmer showing off her skills.

The young programmers can create personalized codes for others, set alarms, create an answering system, leave messages, create knock recognition programs and assign identification cards.

Conceptualization

Both the icons on the screen and the buttons on the physical product had to be created in tandem.

Many considerations were taken in designing the Information Architecture. There were many variables to consider including age of user, which was difficult. What might be common or natural to an adult might be confusing or new to the younger user.

The Result

We got kids really excited about programming and there are many young programmers out there today conceiving ways to defend their rooms and sharing their discoveries on Youtube. Here is one of my favorites.