Snowball

Inspiration

Stephanie works with social robots and their benefits and Tiffany spends a lot of time on her phone. They wondered: what if phones could be social robots?

Background

Feelings of social isolation and loneliness have been shown to significantly increase a person's risk of premature death from all causes (CDC). During COVID, there has been an increase in reported loneliness (Time), with Gen Z (+27%) and millennials (+34%) being the most impacted generations according to a survey by SocialPro.

Pets are companions that can help prevent feelings of loneliness and self-isolation (Anxiety and Depression Association of America), but not everyone wants or is able to have a pet.

However, there's a market for virtual pets!

More than 82 million tamagotchis have been sold (CBS News).
Nintendogs, at nearly 24 million copies sold, is the 2nd-highest selling Nintendo DS game, ahead of Mario Kart DS (Nintendo)!
Talking Tom is at 8 billion app downloads (Venture Beat).

But you don't get to touch virtual pets...they live in your screen :(

And physical touch is valuable! Touching a social robot (PARO) has been shown to reduce pain ratings and improve mood (Nature).

But social robots can be expensive. Some options include:

PARO (like above): but it's currently over $8000!
Miro: over $4000!
A Furreal friend: these can range from $10-$100!

But wait: people (already) own phones!

81% of the US population owns a smartphone, with 96% of the US population ages 18-29 owning a smartphone.

And while we might not be able to get as sophisticated as a purpose-built social robot, physical pet interaction might be mimicked through phone gestures, e.g. scrolling with multiple fingers (similar to patting), etc!

So: loneliness and social isolation are challenges, especially right now. Pets and social robots help, but not everyone has access to that. But many people already have phones. And we often interact with our phones in physical ways. So: what if your phone could act as a pet?

This is Snowball

Snowball is a low-maintenance virtual pet that users can physically interact with to reduce feelings of social isolation and loneliness. Snowball combines the physical touch and companionship benefits of social robots with the accessibility of a virtual pet app that can be downloaded directly to your phone.

What: low-maintenance virtual pet that users can physically interact with How: smartphone gestures (tapping, swiping, etc) Why: reduce feelings of social isolation and loneliness

Target segment: teens and young adults

Snowball targets young adults aged 18-29. This segment may have grown up with Tamagotchis, Nintendogs, Neopets, Furreal Friends, and other virtual pets—they may already be comfortable and familiar with the idea of a virtual pet. Additionally, as of 2019, 96% of Americans ages 18-29 own a smartphone (Pew Research), making this segment very reachable. Targetting cellphone owners also ensures that users are familiar with common phone gestures like swiping and tapping, which they can do to interact with their virtual Snowball pet. However, while Snowball is designed with young adults in mind, it is not exclusive to this segment; 81% of the total American population owns a smartphone (Pew Research), and we are assuming that Canadian statistics on smartphone ownership are similar.

Pain points addressed

Some pain points considered in the development of this virtual pet include:

Lack of physical touch. Often, virtual pets are interacted with by pressing buttons, etc that aren't quite the same as how one might interact with a pet or social robot.
Additional stress. Virtual pets are sometimes designed to require one's attention, e.g. must be fed on a regular basis, must collect coins to purchase more items. This may add stress to the owner.
Lack of personalization. Some virtual pet apps are not personalized for each user, e.g. in Neko Atsume, everyone is trying to discover the same cats :)

Features

Snowball can..

respond to petting (touching and swiping) --> addresses lack of physical interactions
become confused or dizzy based on different actions e.g. shaking --> addresses lack of physical interactions
be named and respond to its name --> addresses lack of personalization and physical interactions
increase happiness on an only-upward scale (through petting and saying its name) --> addresses potential stress

How we built it

Xcode and Swift for the app, Procreate for animations

Challenges I ran into

Decoding text from audio recognition
Animating Snowball with GIFs
Coordinating the project and working through technical issues online

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Learning how to implement the app and overcoming technical challenges

What I learned

How to build an app in 24 hours

What's next for Snowball

External accessories: fuzzy phone case to pet, ears that can sense screen light and move accordingly, etc.
More ways to physically interact: phone buttons, brightness, etc.