10th grade at Freedom High School (Chantilly, Virginia)
Third Place
Tired of kids glued to screens on the couch? What if they could jump, move, and laugh their way to mastering a new language at their own pace? That’s exactly what the Smart Playmat delivers—as the brainchild of a high school engineer girl, this playful tool is transforming how children engage with language learning. In this interview, she shares her inspiration, the challenges she faced, and what’s next for this invention.
Q: What inspired you to create Smart Playmat?
A: As a bilingual speaker of English and Korean, I used to volunteer as a Teaching Assistant at a Korean Language School. While teaching children with worksheets and textbooks, I noticed students quickly lost interest. However, during a holiday game that got them moving, they became fully engaged—laughing, cheering, and learning effortlessly. This inspired me to create a smart device that replicates this excitement while adapting to each child's learning pace and interests.
Q: How does Smart Playmat work, and what sets it apart from existing technologies?
A: At its core, Smart Playmat combines the familiarity of traditional playmat with AI technology to make language learning fun and engaging. Since playmats are a staple in households with young children, I wanted to enhance this familiar item into a meaningful educational tool. Unlike existing AI-based language-learning tools, such as Duolingo and Memrise, the Smart Playmat involves physical activities like stepping, jumping, or touching. Moreover, rather than following a fixed curriculum like existing tools, the Smart Playmat adapts to each child’s learning style and pace. Lastly, to minimize screen dependency, the Smart Playmat monitors each child’s playtime and encourages breaks to align with recommended screen limits.
The Smart Playmat features zones with different categories like animals, food, numbers, and the alphabet, and offers three main modes: Learning, Quiz, and Review. In Learning Mode, for example, stepping on the animal zone will display a lion image while the word “lion” is pronounced, and then animations about lions on TV. The program also introduces three related facts or sentences, which later appear in Quiz Mode. Quiz Mode turns learning into a game, asking questions like, “Which animal roars?” and having children step on the correct answer. Review Mode reinforces learning by revisiting lessons and adding new facts at a higher level of complexity. These facts also appear in quizzes, helping strengthen memory through repetition. The playmat’s algorithm tracks the child’s progress and adapts to their needs. If the child struggles with certain words, the system introduces easier words and adjusts pronunciations and speed to build confidence. It also monitors the attention span of each child (10-25 minutes) and switches modes to maintain engagement. Additionally, the AI tracks time spent in each category to present content aligned with the child’s interest. Parents can monitor progress through a connected app, which provides detailed reports on the child’s strength, challenges, and overall development.
Q. What personal information does Smart Playmat require and how is that information used?
A: Smart Playmat collects certain personal information to create an account and deliver personalized learning content. Parents start by entering their child’s age and selecting categories of interest. As children engage with the playmat, their preferences and performance are tracked and stored to refine the suggested content. Audio data is also collected to analyze speech and provide pronunciation feedback. Parents must input their login credentials for preferred streaming platforms like Netflix or Amazon Prime, enabling the playmat to access and display animations or GIFs for each vocabulary word from content deemed appropriate by parents. Additionally, a payment method and billing address are required for registration.
Q. What were the potential risks regarding user’s personal information that you considered while developing the Smart Playmat and how did you address those?
A: I was well aware that providing personal information for Smart Playmat poses several potential risks. Children’s age and interests, collected to personalize content, could be sold to third parties for targeted advertising, raising privacy concerns. Also, audio data used for voice recognition and pronunciation correction could be misused for voice cloning scams. If payment information gets leaked, parents may face financial fraud or unauthorized charges.
To address these risks, I carefully reviewed the industry protocol and applied similar solutions to Smart Playmat. First, I implemented data encryption to enhance security and to ensure that all sensitive information such as children’s age, preferences, audio data, and payment details, is stored in a coded format that unauthorized users cannot access without decryption keys. This helps prevent hackers from stealing personal information even if they gain access to the system. Smart Playmat requires regular software updates since they are essential to prevent attackers exploiting known vulnerabilities in outdated software, as well as to introduce new features in the program.
Q: What were the biggest challenges you faced while developing this technology?
A: One of the primary challenges was mitigating AI biases to ensure that the Smart Playmat displays appropriate content only. AI systems can unintentionally reflect biases in their training data, which may result in displaying unsuitable content. For example, early testing of Smart Playmat revealed certain animations or phrases lacking cultural sensitivity, including a sentence with racial stereotypes. To address this, I built a dataset incorporating input from diverse cultures, languages, and perspectives, to ensure inclusive content. I also established strict content moderation protocols with human oversight, allowing moderators to review and flag content promptly. Additionally, continuous monitoring systems tracked AI behavior and content in real-time, enabling immediate adjustments when necessary. To further safeguard users, I enabled an instant reporting feature where users can submit photos or screenshots of inappropriate content via our app.
Q: What impact do you hope your invention will have on the world?
A: Given that early language learning enhances reasoning, problem-solving, memory, and communication skills while fostering intercultural understanding, I hope Smart Playmat will transform how young children learn languages by making it fun and interactive. My next step is to expand the Smart Playmat to support children with special needs, incorporating assistive technologies to create an inclusive learning tool. For example, I plan to add a text-to-speech function, allowing the playmat to read aloud phrases or sentences for children with reading difficulties or visual impairments. This feature will be customizable, offering different voice options and speeds to suit each child’s needs. I also aim to integrate haptic feedback using vibrations or gentle taps, for children with hearing impairments. These technologies can significantly enhance educational outcomes, enabling all children to learn and participate alongside their peers. My ultimate goal is to provide an engaging and supportive educational tool for children of all abilities.
The Smart Playmat isn’t just about play—it’s a game-changer for how kids learn and grow in a tech-driven world. Under this young engineers’ visionary leadership, education is evolving into something vibrant, interactive, and accessible. As she continues to innovate and adapt for children with diverse needs, the Smart Playmat stands as a bold reminder that learning can be joyful, inclusive, and screen-balanced—just as it should be.
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These winning entries in the 2025 EngineerGirl Writing Contest showcase the lifecycle of everyday items and the types of engineering involved along the way. Congratulations to all winners and finalists!
