Whisker is an interactive system that allows pet owners to remotely monitor and entertain their pets. The product aims to bring the owner and the pet closer by providing better understanding and interaction between the two.
This project is done in collaboration with Yooyoung Ko and Robyn Lambert, in Prototyping Tools for User Experience Design with Professor Wayne Chung. This project was featured on the homepage of Carnegie Mellon University School of Design in February 2016.
The design process begins with contextual research, where we interviewed pet owners and pet store staff to understand the concerns and patterns of living with a pet. With an affinity diagram, we have discovered several topics of interest, from which we chose to focus on sleep. Following our research, we presented our interviewees with three different make tools that further included them in the process, and allowed us to understand their needs in detail.
The Whisker system consists of an interactive, customizable dock and a mobile application which controls the dock and analyzes its collected data. Pet owners are enabled to view the pet's movement as well as understand its long term behavior patterns. Through the dock, users can virtually play with the cat, ensure its activity level during the day, and feel closer to the pet.
