Nova is an AR-powered navigation system that helps children travel safely in
urban environments, offering real-time guidance and building confidence in
independent mobility.
ObjectiveTo create a safer transit
experience for children in
urban environments by
harnessing future technology.
Problem
My RoleTeamResearch
Solution
Testing
ClientRujuta
Chang
Claire
DurationThe Unicef
Innovation
Node
(Meg McLaughlin)
4 Months
Children crave the freedom to move through cities on their own, but face risks such as traffic hazards, unfamiliar
routes, and limited situational awareness. Parents want to encourage independence, yet struggle with fear and the
need for reassurance. Current navigation and tracking tools are either not designed for children or feel overly
intrusive, leaving a critical gap for safer, child-friendly mobility solutions.
We designed Nova, an AR glasses system with a companion mobile app, to make children’s independent mobility
safer while helping them build confidence.
Expert Panels
Attended UC Berkeley events — Riding for Change: Labor & Transit Equity and Robotaxis and AI: Navigating Mobility
Innovation and the Public Good — to understand systemic challenges.
Parent Interviews
Spoke directly with parents to uncover fears, needs, and expectations around children’s mobility.
Co-creation Workshops
Facilitated collaborative sessions to generate ideas and align solutions with both parent and child perspectives.
From this process, we uncovered three key insights:
Children desire freedom but lack safe tools
.
Kids want independence in navigating cities, but existing maps and trackers aren’t designed for their
age or abilities.
Parents seek reassurance, not surveillance.
Parents want confidence in their child’s safety, but intrusive tracking erodes trust and limits
independence.
Exploring Needs and Perspectives.
Future tech can close the gap
AR and AI offer a chance to design proactive, child-centered navigation that balances freedom
with safety.
Evaluating Potential Solutions
Building on these insights, we compared potential approaches such as GPS trackers, mobile apps,
transit training, and community escorts. While each offered partial solutions, none fully balanced
safety with independence.
This led us to focus on Navigation AR Glasses. Although not yet feasible for production, advances in AR, language
models, and hardware are reducing costs and expanding accessibility. AR glasses represent a forward-looking vision
for how technology could better unite safety and independence while opening new opportunities for child mobility.
Competitive analysis
Once we aligned on AR glasses as a promising direction, we conducted a competitive analysis of Meta, Snap, and
Apple to better understand the hardware landscape, interaction methods, and long-term trends. This helped us
define a focused product roadmap grounded in current feasibility and future opportunity..
This exploration surfaced three insights that guided our next steps:
AR glasses are becoming the next computing platform
They offer a strong opportunity to integrate advanced technologies. This momentum is growing, with
significant industry investment and early consumer adoption.
Interactions are still maturing
Voice and hand gesture input are currently the primary interaction methods. Portable AR glasses with reliable
display overlays are still limited and may take two to three years to reach mainstream use.
Focus on software, not hardware
UNICEF does not need to create its own AR glasses. Prioritizing a flexible software experience allows us to stay
aligned with industry development while remaining device-agnostic.
Ideation
Design
For children
The AR glasses provide simple HUD text, responsive navigation guidelines, and a friendly mascot that guides
them safely while encouraging awareness.
For parents
The companion app let’s parents set up child profiles, safe zones, and emergency contacts. It sends real time
alerts if a boundary is crossed, providing reassurance without constant surveillance.
Solution
Success Metric
To guide the development of the Navigation AR Glasses, we defined clear metrics that balance children’s
independence with parental reassurance. These focus on building confidence, ensuring safety, and encouraging
exploration while keeping both children and parents at ease
Child navigation confidence
.
Kids want independence in navigating cities, but
existing maps and trackers aren’t designed for
their age or abilities.
Safety incident reduction
.
Fewer risks and accidents occur as children are
better guided and more aware of their
surroundings.
Parental reassurance
.
Parents gain peace of mind knowing their child is
supported and monitored within safe
boundaries.
Independence encouragement
.
Children develop autonomy by exploring safely
without constant parental oversight.
Design Challenge 1
Presenting information clearly without overwhelming the user
I researched different types of AR text displays and evaluated their suitability for this project. Based on that study, I
chose HUD text as the primary approach because it keeps essential details like distance, estimated time, and alerts
in fixed positions, making them stable and always visible without blocking the main view.
“I want my child to get directions, but not so much text that they lose focus on the road.”
Based on early feedback and real-world usage conditions, I defined four key overlay principles to ensure safe,
accessible navigation for children:
Readable: Large, high-contrast, and legible across changing lighting conditions.
Focused: Brief, context-aware, and free of unnecessary clutter.
Unobtrusive: Positioned to avoid blocking key parts of the user's field of view.
Adaptive: Flexible in size and placement to accommodate diverse user needs.
We applied these principles by combining HUD text with responsive elements that adapt to user movement. HUD
elements such as alerts, time, and distance remain fixed and always visible. Responsive path indicators adjust in real
time to guide navigation without breaking immersion.
Design Challenge 2
Balancing safety with independence
At first, we focused mainly on the child’s view, designing AR glasses to guide kids with navigation cues and hazard
alerts. But testing showed this wasn’t enough—parents still felt anxious. They wanted alerts, SOS triggers, and
reassurance beyond what the child saw, so we expanded the system to include a parent-facing layer of notifications
and controls.
Child’s View
Safe Zone Set up
Parent’s View
This shift transformed the concept from a child-only tool into a paired system where parents and children onboard
together. Children receive simple, encouraging guidance through the glasses, building confidence to navigate more
independently, while parents manage safe zones, alerts, and emergency options in the companion app, giving them
the reassurance they need.
Onboarding
Safety Controls
Design Challenge 3
Making the experience engaging without distraction
A key challenge was keeping the AR interface simple enough for children to follow while still engaging. Minimal colors
and clean visuals reduced distractions but risked feeling too plain.
To address this, we introduced Nova, a friendly mascot. Nova means “new star,” symbolizing guidance and growth,
while also aligning with UNICEF’s mission to support children. With strong color contrast, playful clarity, and a
reassuring presence, Nova makes the experience engaging without overwhelming kids or distracting from
their surroundings.
“If it’s too plain my kid won’t use it, but if it’s too flashy they’ll miss what’s important.”
Usability Testing
Over a one-month prototype sprint, we tested with 20 parents, sometimes together with their children. Their
feedback on navigation clarity, safety features, and usability guided key refinements to the AR glasses and
companion app, making the system more practical, child-friendly, and reassuring for parents.
Strengthened safety with alerts, SOS functions, and danger warnings.
Improved the companion app with easier onboarding, safe zone setup, and parent–child contact options.
Reduced visual clutter so children could focus on key guidance.
Refined hardware concept toward thinner, more child-friendly glasses.
Research
To better understand the context of independent child mobility, we reviewed global data on road safety and
parental concerns:
Exploring Needs and Perspectives.