A screen-free choice board for kindergarten classrooms
For DougLab, we developed the electronics and firmware of a choice board that logs which play corner each kindergarten child picks, from the first proofs of concept to the first production batches.
- Client
- DougLab
- Year
- 2024
- Services
- Electronics design, Firmware
The challenge
MagMAGI is a choice board for kindergarten classrooms. Each child has a personal magnetic badge and places it on the board in the play corner they choose. The children never look at a screen, while the teacher gets an online overview of their choices, preferences and development.
For that to work, the board has to recognise every badge, every time a child puts it on, and pass it on to the online platform. And it has to hold up in a busy classroom.
What we did
We started by evaluating ways to identify the badges, including NFC, and built proofs of concept to compare the options. We settled on pogo-pin contacts: spring-loaded pins that make a direct electrical connection between badge and board.
We then designed both the badges and the main boards. The main boards are modular and talk to each other over a robust internal CAN bus.
We wrote the firmware that connects the board to DougLab’s backend. Commands go back and forth, and the boards can be updated over the air, so new features reach classrooms without anyone touching the hardware.
Beyond the design
We delivered the first batches of PCBs for the first real products ourselves.
The boards follow design for manufacturing (DFM) and design for test (DFT) principles from the start, so every board can be fully tested in production with a suitable test jig.
The result
The end-product is available today for kindergarten classrooms. See magmagi.com for more.
