Summary of Flip
Flip Intro summary: Flip is a pair of webbed aquatic gloves designed to make swimming fun while teaching children about marine life. The gloves track acceleration, sync with an educational mobile app to generate real-time animal profiles, and use a wristband housing waterproofed hardware and a display to stimulate learning and play.
Parts used in the Flip project:
- Webbed aquatic glove (silicone)
- Fin (silicone)
- Wristband (elastomer)
- Acceleration sensor
- Waterproofed screen/display
- Hardware electronics (hidden in wristband)
- Fabric, Velcro (used in mock-up)
Flip Intro
There is something kind of magical about swimming when you are a child. Do you remember growing up and watching your shadow as you swam in the pool, trying to mimic a perfect dolphin kick and imagining you were a mermaid rather than human? We all shared these sorts of memories and a few of us decided to create something that enhanced the sense of wonder kids’ get when they play and swim under water.
Value Proposition
1. Swimming is a great form of exercise. One of the core objectives of Flip is to help kids to become healthy and competent swimmers.
2. However, another goal of this design is to make kids learn and care about water animals. Traditionally, aquariums have been a way of bringing people, and especially children, closer to sea life. By triggering a sense of wonder and appreciation in visitors, aquariums are an effective way of teaching people about sea-life preservation, and it’s also just really fun to learn about these animals and their habitats.
Ideation
We saw an opportunity to create a device that not only encouraged children to swim more, but also generated their interest in preserving sea creatures and their habitats through a fun interaction. We eventually imagined designing a pair of webbed aquatic gloves that would track acceleration. It would then sync with an educational mobile app in order to generate animal profiles real-time. Our desire is to promote learning through animal-metrics.
In our works-alike glove (see images below), we used simple material like fabric, Velcro and a pre-made fin to mock-up a simple casing that would be easy to work with.
Aqua Glove Demonstration Prototype
But for our actual prototype, we imagined using materials like silicone, which composes the glove and fin, and an elastomer material for the wristband.
The wristband houses all the hardware that stimulates the child’s magical experience. It hides everything that doesn’t want to be seen. The screen is the only component that is exposed, which would be waterproofed so children can, of course, swim with the glove.
Read More: Flip
- What is Flip?
Flip is a pair of webbed aquatic gloves that track acceleration and sync with an educational mobile app to create real-time animal profiles for children. - How do the gloves encourage kids to swim?
The gloves enhance play by adding webbed fins and tracking motion, making swimming feel magical and motivating children to swim more. - Can Flip teach children about sea animals?
Yes; Flip syncs motion data with a mobile app to generate animal profiles and promote learning about sea-life and preservation. - What materials are proposed for the actual prototype?
The design proposes silicone for the glove and fin, and an elastomer material for the wristband. - Where are the electronics housed?
All hardware is housed inside the wristband, with only the waterproofed screen exposed. - Was a mock-up created and what materials did it use?
Yes; a mock-up used simple materials like fabric, Velcro, and a pre-made fin to create a simple casing. - Does the wristband allow swimming with the device on?
Yes; the wristband screen is intended to be waterproofed so children can swim with the glove. - What sensor is used to capture motion?
An acceleration sensor is used to track movement.
