A colorful wall full of friendly animals that come to life as soon as you point a tablet at them. No complicated installation, no training. Just wonder.
Interactive AR wallpaper is just wallpaper. It hangs on the wall, looks colorful and inviting, and asks nothing of the people in the room. But as soon as you point a tablet or smartphone at it, something changes. The wall comes to life.
Friendly animals move calmly within the space. Fish swim, butterflies flutter, a turtle looks at you. The interactive world is created via augmented reality: the app on the tablet overlays an animation layer onto the wallpaper, and suddenly you see more than what is physically there.
How does it work in practice?
The wallpaper hangs on the wall and nothing else is needed besides a tablet or smartphone. No sensors, no cameras, no technical installation.
A child can pick up the tablet themselves and start exploring immediately, without prior explanation. Short games are available that can be stopped at any time, but simply watching the animals come to life is already enough. The child does not have to do, understand, or achieve anything.
Parents and caregivers can watch and help, giving them a role and shifting their focus as well.
Why does the environment matter so much?
Children entering a healthcare environment almost never do so neutrally. Fear of the unknown, tension over loss of control, uncertainty about what is to come: these are factors for many children. And stress affects not only how a child feels, but also pain perception, recovery, and how smoothly a treatment proceeds.
Research into comfort care shows that, alongside medical expertise, a difference is made in the experience of a treatment or examination through: attention (both for the child and where the child’s attention is directed), the design of the healthcare environment, and the role of the parents. Interactive AR wallpaper touches on all three.
Shifting focus. Distraction and curiosity help children not to focus on what is to come. The animations draw attention in a pleasant, accessible way.
The right environment. A room with warm colors, green and natural imagery, and something to look at ensures that children enter more calmly and perceive the waiting time as shorter.
Involving parents. By giving parents something to do together, a sense of connection and safety is created. Young children read their parents’ facial expressions to determine if something is safe. If a parent looks relaxed while watching something fun, the child feels that.
How do you use the interactive AR wall?
Depending somewhat on the situation and the age of the child, you let parents and child discover it together.
Point the phone at the wall and ask: “Do you see that turtle yet? How many fingers does he have?”
Give the child as much control as possible. If possible, let the child hold the phone and move the camera themselves.
Let parent and child search together for who sees an orange fish first.
As a healthcare professional, you can ask questions about what they see, what makes it move, and what else might be in that underwater world.
A pleasant and calm way to shift focus and achieve more emotional comfort.