W18 | Applications and Implications, Project Development

Every child deserves to feel heard, understood, and supported when learning to navigate their emotions.

For many children, recognizing and expressing what they feel is not always easy. Access to emotional support can also be limited, making it difficult for some families to find the resources they need. This project aims to contribute, in a small way, by creating a companion that helps children explore emotions through play and interaction.

The robot is not intended to replace psychologists, therapists, or caregivers. Instead, it is designed to be a friendly companion that encourages emotional awareness through simple and engaging experiences. Using movement, light, animations, and physical interaction, it helps transform emotions into something more tangible and easier for a child to understand.

In addition to helping children recognize emotions, the robot introduces simple self-regulation techniques such as breathing exercises, movement-based activities, and other age-appropriate practices. The goal is not only to support the child in the moment, but also to help them build tools they can remember and apply later when they encounter similar situations in their daily lives.

Beyond the technology, the purpose of this project is to make emotional learning feel approachable and accessible. Whether used in a school, a healthcare environment, or at home, the goal is to provide a supportive experience that helps children feel more comfortable understanding, expressing, and managing their emotions.

When a child approaches, the PIR sensor wakes the robot, which greets them and asks how they are feeling. The child responds by pressing one of three buttons, and the robot guides them through a specific interaction using animations, arm movements, LED light, and sound. For the angry state, the child also interacts with a bamboo-shaped accessory that measures movement intensity via BLE and triggers a specific calming response based on the intensity level detected.

Physical Body/3D Design

The panda body was designed in Fusion 360 starting with the Form tool to achieve its organic, rounded shape. Once the base form was defined, other Fusion 360 tools were used to build the internal structure — dedicated spaces for each component, cable routing channels, and mounting slots. The bamboo accessory was designed using standard Fusion 360 tools, shaped to resemble a bamboo segment sized to fit comfortably in a child's hand, with an inner structure to house the board and LED.

Visual Content/2D Design

12 animated screens designed in Procreate, one per state in the interaction flow, built frame by frame and designed to be immediately readable by a child.

The project uses two sets of components — one for the main robot and one for the bamboo accessory. The core electronics include two XIAO ESP32S3 microcontrollers, a Nextion display, two servo motors, a NeoPixel LED ring, a PIR sensor, an MPU-6050 accelerometer, push buttons, a buzzer, and an RGB LED. The physical structure is fabricated using PLA filament for the robot body, and PETG and TPU for the bamboo accessory. Two custom PCBs were designed in KiCad and milled at the fab lab.

The assembly uses threaded inserts and screws to join the printed parts, creating a strong and clean connection. The inserts are embedded into the printed parts and the screws go through them, keeping them as hidden as possible so they do not affect the final appearance.

Most components were already available at the fab lab. The only component that required importing was the Nextion display, sourced from Seeed Studio. The estimated total cost based on reference prices is $183.95, though actual costs will vary depending on the supplier and country.

Every part of this project was made rather than bought. The system is divided into two physical units — the robot and the bamboo accessory — that work together wirelessly. The robot contains all the main electronics and handles the interaction with the child, while the accessory sends movement data via BLE. Together they form a complete, independently operable system.

These are the open questions that need to be resolved to consider the project complete. Some are technical calibration challenges — like finding the right MPU6050 thresholds for a child's shaking intensity — while others involve system-level decisions, such as synchronizing all outputs so that the robot's responses feel natural and coordinated. The bamboo accessory is still being tested in terms of material and infill, and the full interaction flow, including PIR and servo integration, is pending final programming.