The Care Cube
ENP-064, Methods for Human Factors Engineering
Professor Dan Hannon
Spring, 2022
The Care Cube was invented, designed, manufactured, and tested as a part of my Methods for Human Factors Engineering course. This cube was designed to address the discrepancy between emotional development and personal expression in children aged 3-5, with additional digital tools for use by parents. By bringing the Care Cube to life via SolidWorks, physical prototyping, digital prototyping, and testing with children, I experienced the design process, in full, first-hand.
Ideation
The project was intended to help children, who are too young to have the words, to express and act upon emotions that they are feeling at any one moment. I thought that I might invent a toy that asked a child how they felt and provided special activities depending on their answer. Additionally, I hoped that if such a thing existed, parents would be encouraged to listen to the feelings their children were expressing or the activities that called to them.
Eventually, I landed on a cube with embedded buttons that I could record questions and comments onto for children to be able to interact with, without reading. Each hand-painted side would also include a tactile activity (teddy bears, bead “maze,” and brushing cow fur).
Design
During this phase, I considered anthropometry, biometry, and risks for the appropriate age group.
Then, once I had measurements I was satisfied with, I completed several rounds of Computer Aided Design in Solidworks. The final of these versions was used in the laser cutting step of manufacturing.
Manufacturing
Building the box included many different kinds of manufacturing, including:
Laser cutting
Precision measuring
Wood working (gluing, sawing, drilling)
Construction (brackets, clamps)
Painting
Crafting
The result is the Cube as you see it to the right!
User Testing
The final component of the project was to get the Care Cube in front of children and see what they had to say! Both Parker (6 years old) and Clara (4 years old) spent some time playing with it and providing feedback. This component of the project provided me with some useful information around perception from different age ranges (i.e. the cube worked better for Clara) and also some potential changes for a future prototype.
User Testing with Parker, Age 6
User Testing with Clara, Age 4
