The electronic Zappy clip can show the current battery status, give advices and remind the kids to go to the playground.
On the Zapland website everyone can design their own house and choose a character. This character, called Zappy, requires energy, which can only be produced on the playground. After signing up, choosing and customizing the Zappy, the family can either 3D print the model or get an analog or electronic version of it from a vending machine, which is situated on the playground. This small toy clips on to an NFC enabled silicone bracelet that has a unique ID and it is also available form the vending machine. This ID number is used for recognizing the user and assigning the energy produced on the playground to the account. This real life energy is the currency with which the environment in the virtual world can exist. A Zappy only has so much energy to function for a period of time. This can be seen as a battery status. To learn and develop the character the battery needs constant recharging. When the battery runs out the user has to go to the playground, check in to any of the games with the NFC bracelet and start collecting energy. The simpler version of the Zappy clip has only decoration purposes but the electronic version can also give audio and visual feedback to the user about. When enough energy is made and harvested the user can check out. The energy is than assigned to their account and they can continue learning about what the energy, which has just produced can be used for.
The goal of the Zapland concept is to educate future generations about energy consciousness in a playful way.
It is a digital - physical hybrid platform built for energy conscious parents and their children. On the Zapland playground there are several unique and fun games that can measure the playing activity. All the games are designed to produce some level of green energy, which is used to partly self sustain the playground. All the games are equipped with an energy-measuring device and an NFC enabled check-in system. When a child checks in to one of the toys with an NFC bracelet it starts measuring how much energy is being produced. This data is collected in the Cloud and assigned to their virtual account. The parents can set how much energy is needed for their kid's online Zappy to function.
Participants
Eszter Balogh, Benjamin A. Balla, László Kiss, Krisztián K. Horváth, Gergő Csikós, Réka Harsányi, Dávid Mórász, Attila Hajdrik
