Play with Tiles IoT Inventor Toolkit
Learn and invent for the Internet of Things
Zero experience required

Product development for the Internet of Things (IoT) is often pushed by advances in technology rather than human needs. We want to keep human drives at the center of IoT development by involving end-users into creative ideation and prototyping of novel products.

The Tiles project develops a methodology and a set of tools to accelerate collaborative learning, ideation and prototyping for the IoT.

Tiles IoT Cards are packs of cards with simple descriptions of IoT components, fun design missions and reflection lenses that help you to be creative, learn and invent novel IoT concepts. You can use the cards during research explorations, design exercises and school courses.

Tiles Workshop is a creative experience during which people with zero background in IoT use Tiles Cards together with design thinking techniques to ideate solutions to address specific domains (e.g. waste reduction, urban mobility, climate change).

Tiles IoT Stickers are the components of an innovative prototyping platform to turn ideas generated with Tiles Cards into physical interactive prototypes. Stickers with sensors and actuators give superpowers to the everyday things you already own.

Tiles Toolkit is a research project at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Tiles IoT Cards can be downloaded under MIT License.

Tiles Workshop is a 2-hours design experience during which non-experts (e.g. fellow citizens, makers and kids) supervised by professionals collaboratively ideate an IoT invention (product, service or ecology). Throughout a set of six design thinking activities participants work with preassigned problem scenarios and Tiles IoT Cards to creatively converge towards an IoT product idea. The outcome of the workshop is a storyboard and elevator pitch ready to be used following steps like prototyping and business development. The Tiles Idea Generator board and experts supervision enforce and scaffold the actions of workshop participants.

Ideation process and activities

The journey starts with a set of SCENARIOS and PERSONAS given to participants to choose from. Following, participants are asked to pick a few MISSIONS cards to spark creativity and inspiration. Participants are then in turn asked to choose and combine THINGS, SENSORS, FEEDBACK, HUMAN ACTIONS and SERVICES relevant for the chosen scenario. Drawing on the chosen cards, participants elaborate an initial concept and sketch it out on a storyboard. A refined ideas in now visualised on the INVENTOR BOARD. Participants are then asked to collaboratively reflect and improve their concepts using CRITERIA cards and to prepare an elevator pitch to present their concept to the the audience (other participants, mentors, investors).