Dezeen Magazine

SmartKit by Matthieu Muller helps children "use technology in a healthy way"

SmartKit by Matthieu Muller helps children "use technology in a healthy way"

OPPO x RCA Humanising Technology: SmartKit is a set of three children's toys that are designed by Matthieu Muller to be used in tandem with smartphones.

Muller developed SmartKit to enrich a child's experience of technology and simultaneously help them develop a healthier relationship with it by "combining the physical and the digital world".

The toys, which include a car, plane and spaceship, are all made from cardboard and are animated using the features of the smartphone. This includes its speakers, display, and flash, all of which can be controlled by the children via an app on the smartphone in use.

SmartKit was developed by Muller while studying the Royal College of Art's MA Design Products programme, during which he answered a brief set by OPPO London Design Centre – the design hub of global technology company OPPO.

"Today, 70 per cent of children start using tablets and smartphones at three years old or younger," said OPPO London Design Centre.

"SmartKit aims to teach children to use technology in a healthy and productive way by combining the physical and the digital world."


Global technology company OPPO is presenting seven people-centric projects by five Royal College of Art students that were developed in collaboration with its design hub, OPPO London Design Centre.

The five featured students were among eight of those mentored by the global technology company while studying the MA Design Products programme, during which they answered a brief entitled Humanising Technology.

See OPPO's selection of projects from the OPPO x RCA Humanising Technology collaboration here.