Yumit, an interactive children’s food plate that motivates kids to eat healthy by converting what they eat into virtual energy that can be used for upgrades and extras on mobile games. The healthier the kids eat, the more virtual energy their favorite game character will have.

How?

The plate rests on a scale that measures each bite in real time. As children eat, the info is sent to the Yumit servers. In that way, when the child finishes eating, he can enjoy his games and learn about the benefits of eating healthy.

Yumit also has a mobile app for parents, which registers and analyzes children’s eating behavior. If something is missing from the food’s pyramid, it’s suggested through the games. Picture the final stage of a game level and your character saying something like: “Looks like I have run out of energy to move forward, try eating some vegetables on Yumit".

We developed one hardware product and two software applications.

The Yumit plate is operated by an electronic board wired to a weight sensor placed on its support base. It also has a strip of multi-colored LEDs ring that works as a visual indicator and a Bluetooth module that connects the hardware with the mobile app.

The mobile app is developed on Android, it uses a Bluetooth library to connect and receive information from the plate and keep the data stored in the cloud using a custom REST API. The API is open to all developers who wish to integrate their games to Yumit.

The first game that’s compatible with Yumit has been developed in addition to the Unity game engine. It uses the API to convert nutritional values into virtual energy. If the child doesn’t fulfill his/her diet, the character won’t have enough strength/power in the game to complete the level.

Wired Magazine chose Yumit as “One of the most cleverly designed objects of 2015.”

San Martín de Porres, an Argentine organization dedicated to autism, is planning on adding Yumit to their treatment plans this year.

Nutrition specialists from Argentina, the United States, Japan and India have already pre-ordered Yumit to use with their patients.

One of the most important videogame companies will be including Yumit in their 2017 games.

+ 15,900,000 media impressions.

+ $1,700,000 earned media.

We believe this is relevant for the category since Yumit collects information that was not taken into account before and transforms it into a creative tool helping children eat healthy in an entertaining way.

We needed to develop a simple and smart innovation that could help the next generation enjoy the process of learning and incorporating healthy eating habits.

We know that kids are really picking at meal time but how many times have we seen them complain while playing games? We decided to solve this challenge by making meal time more fun for everyone, designing an entertaining experience to get kids and their parents to enjoy their meal time, removing the conflict from the scene.

We considered reversing the idea of using punishment—locking kids out of a game if they don’t eat their veggies, for instance— by giving rewards. It turns out (surprise!) that kids responded much better to positive reinforcement.

In this way, we could realign what children think of mealtime. If eating veggies is fun, they’re more likely to do it again.

Getting kids to eat healthier can be a real challenge, either because they lack motivation, are easily distracted or turn their nose up at certain flavors.

There are a few tricks parents have up their sleeve for getting their children to eat what’s on their plate. It turns out that bribery is one of the most effective tools. Currently, out of all the bribes a child might respond to, 15 minutes on the iPad ranks pretty high (there’s nothing like dangling a shiny, amazing carrot in order to get kids to eat an actual carrot).

Talking about Popeye and the benefits of spinach or about eating carrots to improve their vision no longer convinces this generation.

We had to find a solution to the problem of kids not eating healthier.