18 Technologies that delight: co-designing augmented reality digital companions for children being admitted to hospital

IntroductionHospitalisation is a stressful experience for children. While parents and hospital staff are critical in helping to alleviate fear and manage expectations, here we present a Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) App running on a smartphone to help manage this rollercoaster of emotions by overlaying digital content onto the physical world.MethodCo-designed with Hospital Guides and the Young Persons Advisory Group (YPAG), we developed an interactive MAR prototype to guide children on their hospital admission. Called ‘GOSH garden’, we visualise a series of four short, contextualised, interlinked moments with four unique plant characters and a wayfinding butterfly. The AR experience begins from when children first receive their admissions letter at home, to arriving at the hospital, waiting for an appointment, and their first encounter with a clinician.ResultsUnity3D engine was used as a development platform for fast prototyping using scene building tools and good support for AR libraries, such as AR Core and Vuforia which were used for marker detection and extended tracking. By using smartphone device rear-facing cameras, this allows users to observe the scene ‘through’ their device. Our initial user feedback from 10 YPAG members supported plant characters that celebrate imperfections, recommended for more greenery and interactive play, and revealed that MAR companions have the potential to make children entering hospital feel more comfortable with the uncertainty that lies ahead. This led to six new voiceovers narrated by YPAG members.ConclusionThe persuasive strength of interactive narratives has been shown to foster engagement, enjoyment, and creativity in children with increased benefits to traditional storytelling. We propose that a series of moments for positive distraction, that use interactive media, is one technological approach and a ‘gentle’ kind of user distraction that can be designed to help children as they enter the unknown world of a hospital.