Koda and Pablo is a smart nebulizer machine that helps children and parents to visualize the medication time. It is designed to change the children's first impression to create a positive experience of lung disease treatment to be children friendly and interactive.

Koda and Pablo - Smart Nebulizer for Children

Project Opportunity

Often medication treatment with children that are diagnosed with asthma, cystic fibrosis, COPD and other respiratory diseases are administered for a long period, also it needs to be given around the clock. The nebulizer machine is used when babies or adults with respiratory disease are in severe condition and need to be given medication effectively with a certain dosage. However, children under the age of 10 often have a hard time understanding the use of the machine itself and refuse to take it, which causes users to not inhale medicine properly. It is hard for infants to use MDI (metered-dose inhaler) as they are not old enough to accurately use it. It is important to create a nebulizer machine that is suitable for children and effective for parents to guide their toddlers.

Research

Based on interviewing 2 parents that have children with respiratory disease, the insights that lead to this project is supported by the findings. Every parent wants to make sure that their children take their medication in time so they can heal faster, the number one concern for them is that their children are taking their medication properly. Other highlighted points that they mentioned is that it is hard for their child to understand why they need to take the medication, therefore leading them to resistance to receiving the treatment.

How does it work?

Introduced Koda and Pablo, which offered an alternative way of changing the whole experience of respiratory disease treatment that is both babies friendly and interactive. The machine itself helps parents visualize the countdown time of their children's medication by showing the change in the color and size of the body character "Koda". Red inflated-body signified that the child needs to take their medication and a blue deflated-body signified that the medication is properly inhaled. The body of "Koda" is automatically inflated and change color when it is time for children to take their medication.

The nebulizer machine "Koda" comes with a baby friendly-looking mask called "Pablo". The mask can encourage children to take their medication cooperatively as well as making the machine less intimidating to toddlers. The machine itself gives feedbacks by talking to them while the medication is being inhaled.

Usability

Koda and Pablo are designed for both parents and toddlers. It is designed to be conveniently carried for traveling and easy maintenance and cleaning for parents to manage. It is equipped with storage, carry-on, and a one-step changing filter. It is also designed to reduce noise by creating more airflow for the machine to prevent overheating which often scares toddlers from taking their medication.