Philips Experience Design: The KittenScanner

Fearless MRI procedures thanks to playful coaching programme

An MRI scan provides doctors with meaningful diagnostic images. For children, however, it can be a stressful experience: a large medical device in which the patient has to lie very still and the loud noises made by the strange machine can quickly seem frightening. For this reason, children are often given a short general anaesthetic for this examination. To reduce the use of anaesthesia and minimise the risk of trauma, Philips has developed a coaching programme. It received an award in the Red Dot Award: Product Design in 2022 and offers young patients aged 4 to 8 and their parents the opportunity to prepare for the examination in a playful way. 

Senior Product Designer Ozgur Tasar from the Philips Experience Design Team talks about the development of the programme and how it works:

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With the help of the app "Scan Buddy", the child first prepares for the MRI procedure at home in a playful way. In the interactive game, the young patient helps Ollie the elephant and his friends to undergo an MRI scan. In the process, he learns how important it is to lie still in order to get a good image. Thanks to augmented reality, children can also explore the MRI scanner themselves at home.

At the hospital, the child meets Ollie and his friends accompanied by a paediatrician at the miniature scanner "KittenScanner" in the waiting room. Here they can try out for themselves how a scan works.

The KittenScanner can be seen at the Red Dot Design Museum Essen in the special exhibition of the Philips Experience Design Team
The special exhibition "A life of design. Designing for life. - Philips Experience Design" runs until 21 August 2022.

During the scan, the child can be accompanied by Ollie and his friends during the examination with the help of a projection:

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2022, the coaching programme was awarded a Red Dot by the Red Dot jury. "Philips Pediatric Coaching convinces with its holistic approach. The elements of the programme are coordinated in such a way that a seamless accompaniment of the child is ensured, from preparation at home to the examination," is how the jurors explained their decision.

In the same year, the Philips Experience Design Team was awarded the honorary title "Red Dot: Design Team of the Year 2022". Find out more here: