Mount Sinai Hospital - AR Product Design Internship

An Augmented Reality (AR) proof-of-concept prototype developed for the iOS and Android platforms with Unity and C#, dedicated to providing children afflicted with chronic lung ailments an alternate source of aerobic exercise

My Role

Product Designer

Game Designer

Client

Mount Sinai Hospital's Ability's Research Centre (ARC)

Tools

Blender, Unity,
C#

Timeline

May - August 2023

Overview

Mount Sinai Hospital's Abilities Research Centre (ARC) offers "innovative and individualized therapy" through the use of "the newest available technologies".

I was hired to design and develop a prototype that could be used to make physical exercise activity for children with chronic lung illnesses more fun. I also outlined what the full potential of the product could be with a full team of designers and engineers.

Using my deliverable and vision for the potential future of the product, the ARC is going to pitch and present the prototype to investors and developers to build it into a complete experience and form of therapy.

Initial Information

Target Audience

- Children aged 6 above with chronic lung ailments

- At the age where they are able to read and follow basic instructions

* Due to hospital regulations, I was not allowed to interview patients or test the experience directly with them

Research Plan

- Online research of demographics and psychographics

- Analyse Interactive experiences/games the ARC already uses for rehabilitation and prescriptions

- Play mobile applications designed to make exercise fun and read children's books

- Research Chronic Lung Ailments

Discoveries

1. Most games and applications on the App/Android Store focus on a single player experience, whereas children aged 6 and above are very interested in playing and learning with others.

2. Other games and interactive experiences used by the ARC are mostly used to augment or enhance physical activities like peddling on an exercise bike, not as a stand alone game in which physical exercise is a result of playing the game.

3. After reading modern children's books, a lot of the stories focus on themes of learning, socialising, organisation and respecting others. To keep the scope of the game achievable and thinking about popular children's games, I decided to focus on creating a social game. Creating a multiplayer game was out of scope, so I decided to make something which had an opponent.

4. Children with chronic lung ailments, depending on the type and severity of the illness, are suited to different levels of exercise intensity. I decided the prototype should focus on moderate intensity aerobic activity, as this seems the most scalable. Further developments of the product could enable it to be more customizable to different ability levels.

Product Definition

After conducting my research, I started to brainstorm different experiences.

The vision was to create an experience where aerobic exercise is a result of playing the game, not an augmentation of an aerobic activity.

I also wanted to include a social or learning element. However, as it was out of scope to try and create a multiplayer game. I imagined there could also be situations where children with chronic lung diseases didn't have a real life play friend in some contexts. Therefore, all the experiences I presented to the client had a digital companion.

The client decided on the experience below as it was simple, fun and enabled players to enjoy the thrill of chasing and being chased with a competitive element.