PA!GO encourages children to decrease mobile phone/tablet usage in the home and increase their physical play outdoors using AI techonology to explore and learn more about the world around them.

PA!GO is an innovation project by Panasonic to design and develop an educational, entertaining product for kids that encourages them to explore, play and learn. The device is powered by TensorFlow and the Coral USB Accelerator (Edge TPU) that captures, analyzes and identifies the world around you using on-device Machine Learning.

Nowadays, young children know how to unlock mobile devices before they can even tie their shoes. This project aims to explore the role of technology and entertainment early on in a child's life ensuring we’re not letting technology take over their imagination and curiosity but rather nurture it. So, Panasonic asked themselves how we could combine the latest AI and Machine Learning technology in a robust handheld IoT device that processes information locally and offline.

Known globally for manufacturing best-in-class consumer products, Panasonic explored how to integrate machine learning technology to create an innovative, intuitive experience for elementary school children by turning the ubiquitous remote-control into a robust AI powered magic remote that allows children to interact with the real world in a new way to learn about it instead of relying on screens of mobile devices.

As children learn best through play, a child simply points PA!GO to an object outdoors like a plant, animal or insect and instantly identifies what that object is with voice, explains more information about that object. PA!GO also archives objects captured for the child to share with their family at home using any TV monitor.

KEY DATES IN THE DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

2018

- May 19: Panasonic meet Google to explore collaboration and discuss societal problems to solve for

- July 24: Share ideas and concepts

- Sept 13: Brief development partner Birdman

- Oct 12: Kickoff development with Panasonic, Google, Birdman

- Oct - Nov: Prototype Development

- Nov 24: User testing at Tomigaya elementary school

2019

- Jan 17: Brief product design company Color

- Apr 2: Film concept video

- Apr 24: Present to Panasonic Design Center & CEO

- July 3: Featured at Tech Open Air Festival in Berlin (Tech Conference)

- July 31: Featured in Google Cloud Next '19 Tokyo

2020

- Feb 10: Won Gold Award at the iF Design Awards 2020

INPUT with EXPLORING

Find, Capture and Store

PA!GO is built around the Coral USB accelerator and captures, analyzes and identifies the world around you using on-device Machine Learning powered by Google’s TensorFlow. By using MobileNet’s dataset iNaturalist, users can immediately hear the descriptions of the things they’ve captured. A secondary button runs these base descriptions through Google’s Knowledge Graph so kids can learn even more about their world.

OUTPUT with VIEWING

Sharing with Family

The information captured by PA!GO can also transform the time a family spends around a screen into an opportunity for children to learn and share their experiences and the objects they encounter during their day.

Project the objects captured by PA!GO to any TV or monitor, and kids can see their day’s adventure and navigate it along a timeline pointing out the images they captured along with other information from Google’s knowledge graph, related topics, and relevant educational videos.

The vision for PA!GO aims to combine the best of Panasonic’s camera and projection hardware capabilities, including a micro projector as a ‘torch light’ attachment. This attachment will allow kids to project the images and animals they’ve captured onto walls or their bedroom ceiling.

The open and flowing ‘at home’ user interface and functionality of PA!GO encourages children to develop their own descriptions and stories of their day. Google’s Knowledge Graph and relevant YouTube content will further inform their stories allowing the entire family to learn more about the world around them.