Piko
Wearable device
×
AI companion
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Fashion item
Wearable device
Imagined since the 1980s. Yet the Apple Watch has looked almost the same for ten years.
AI companion
The craze of the moment. Most were played with for a week, then left on a shelf.
Fashion item
Labubu was everywhere that year. But it doesn't know who you are.
My concept sketches.
So we moved the companion onto the body.
Closer, longer, easier.
Meet Piko,
a wearable AI companion
A team prototype for Building User-Focused Sensing Systems at Carnegie Mellon, spring 2025
Recorded with our prototype.
As a prototype, we designed a small scenario for it.
It catches you doomscrolling, and gently interrupts.
It wiggles, makes a small sound, and waits for your excuse
One tap to talk. Two taps for quiet.
It works on a desk or on you. In quiet mode it still notices, but only sends a note to your phone.
Under the fur, two tiny computers.
One sees your phone and talks to Gemini. The other moves its head and arms.
I designed its moods and its behaviors.
Curious tilts, happy clapping, shy greetings, angry shaking, each with its own sound
Iterations of Piko's inner structure.
I designed, modeled and 3D-printed its skeleton.
It had to fit inside the fur, move the head and arms, hold the electronics, open easily for debugging, and survive being worn every day. It took many iterations.
Everyone loves Piko.
- Role
- Team lead: ideation, hardware prototyping, interactive mechanics, interaction design
- Team
- Ashveen Banga, Leo Liu, Narayan Ashanahalli
- Course
- Building User-Focused Sensing Systems, Carnegie Mellon University, with Mayank Goel and Yuvraj Agarwal
- Year
- Spring 2025
- Video
- Watch the demo