The 3rd lesson review

This time, a new task is given to us. We have to provide a translation service to the foreign visitors in Jurong Bird Park so that they can understand more about the birds and have a better experience.

The question is asking us to use a mobile network. However, as the visitors are from all parts of the world. There is a great variety in the phones and networks they may be using. Some of them may even have no phones. Some may be using roaming services. Some may have 3G. Some may only have black and white display. As a result, to use the conventional network, it will be costly. And a lot of high-quality service may not be feasible to carry out. Maybe SMS a question and then the Bird Park Server auto call-back and play a piece of audio answering in the selected language can be a solution. However, it does not give people a sese of excitement and enjoyment. A strange idea come across my mind, which is to forget about mobile device but to develop the Bird Park's own featured service. I am thinking of inventing a small toy bird with the ability to talk. In fact, it is just a mp3 player. The Bird Park will record all the illustrations for the birds in different languages in mp3 format. The size of the file won't be too big. 1 GB should be enough. Then the audio file is stored in the toy bird which is named "Bird Buddy" by me. The toy bird has a loud speaker. When it plays sound, its beak moves. It has Bluetooth technology support. A Bluetooth Network will be built in the Bird Park. A signal emitter is installed at each station of the Bird Park. When the visitors buy tickets and enter the park, they will choose whether they want to accept the service. If yes, a "Bird Buddy" is given to them which will be returned to the park when they leave. Then, they can configure the language they want. When they enter the effective zone of a station(which is about 100m), the signal emitter will send the location code to the toy. The toy then will know the index no. of the audio file to be played. The user then can press play button to listen to the bird knowledge. By knowing the rough position of the visitors, many other services can be provided. The "Bird Buddy" can tell the visitors where the toilet is or where to get some good food. If a child gets lost in the park, the server will know his position if he is carrying the toy bird.

The toy bird is merely my imagination now. Very unlikely, there is a product like this in the market right now. However, I found a Cinese company producing a similiar product called Toy Piggy. The Piggy can response vocally to different touches. Maybe by co-operating with this Chinese company, the "Bird Buddy" can be created. As it has Bluetooth and can play mp3. It is not merely a souvenir. The user can choose to use a new one when they are leaving the park. The content in the mp3 player will be erased. The use then can use Bluetooth device to transfer songs to the toy, maybe even their own recorded voices, just for fun. I feel that it may be a revenue generating operation rather a mere value-added service. It may really sell. If we design more model, e,g different birds, it may then has value for collection. I feel that if it is really launched, it can be an event that advertise Jurong Bird Park. With a "Robot" bird guide for everyone, it can even be the differentiating feature for JBP. I almost wanna drag in Singapore Tourism Board to launch this. I am exited about this idea.

Thanks to the wisdom of the crowd, team members makes me realise the limitations of the idea. The fact that the Bluetooth network built is not being fully used. The fact that the functions of "Bird Buddy" is quite limited as I try to reduce cost(Toys made in China are already quite cheap). They suggested using Wi-Fi instead of Bluetooth, not only for the toy, but also drag in telecom companies to provide wireless surfing experice in JBP. They suggested designing some channels for the network, so that friends can communicate with each other through their "Bird Buddy". They even suggest more revenue generating methods, such like selling the information about birds which originally stored in "Bird Buddy" to schools when they organize educational activities there. My team also come out with ideas of specially designed "Bird Buddy" for disabled visitors for a special rate.

Well, my team welcome the idea of the "Bird Buddy". Tomorrow, a bigger scale of the wisdom of the crowd will taken place. I will update the idea then.

PS: I have decided to try out youtubing and podcasting next time. So next time, my blog entry may be sound or video instead of boring text.

PPS: two websites I found interesting:
Engadget
The Future of Things