KODI
Friendly AI companion for autistic children and their caregivers.
Role & Team
UX Designer working with 3 UX Designers
Timeline
May 2023 - Apr 2023
Tool
Figma, Miro
UserTesting.com
Methods
Online ethnography, Thematic analysis
Impact
Published at CSCW 2023 (Poster) ↗.
CHALLENGE
Autistic children face daily challenges across life.
One in 31 children in the United States is autistic. While symptoms vary, common challenges include sensory processing, cognitive rigidity, anxiety, and repetitive behaviors. These can create barriers across daily life, from education to access to public transportation.
RESEARCH
Understanding the lives of autistic communities.
To better understand the autistic communities, I analyzed 9 videos and 60 posts from online community groups that captured their daily lives.
Methods
9
Videos
60
Community posts
Data collection
Online ethnography
Data analysis
Thematic analysis
Key Findings
💥
Overstimulation and meltdowns.
Loud noises
Flashing lights
Busy crowds
Changes to the plan
"Having to face these triggers, especially on a regular basis, comes with the increased chance of a meltdown or shutdown—something that every autistic person will want to avoid."
👪
Dependency on caregivers.
Scared of being alone
Anxiety
Hard to interact with strangers
"I'm scared and I can't do it. I'm never alone in public spaces."
🔁
Repetitions.
Repetitions to learn something
Repetitive routine and actions
"We've repeated it for a month now and he is getting better and better."
IDEATE
The potential of AI chatbot.
"AI and robots are great tutors for autistic children because they can repeat instructions, stories and answers numerous times, without getting fatigued."
Design Requirements
Large language models (LLMs) have the potential to support autistic children through their ability to engage in natural conversation without constraints. Combining this with our research findings, we began brainstorming designs for an AI companion app to support children during transitional moments.
Child view
Parent dashboard
Ability to create events that buddy can be aware of
Ability to interpret child's needs based on conversation
Being able to input child's current feelings
Multiple input options
(speech, text, etc.)
Ability to speak and show written responses
Contextual support and emotional connection
Initial Sketches
The app is paired with a customizable case that adds additional sensory elements. The screen acts as the character face while the case adds a physical comforting body.
Finally meet..
Kodi, a friendly AI companion for autistic children.
Easy conversations
Users can express their feelings via emoji, voice, or keyboard, choosing the mode that feels most comfortable. Kodi responds to children’s inputs with an animated face that supports emotional connection.
Managing transition
Based on children's feeling, Kodi suggests some activities that can alleviate anxiety and promote coping mechanisms.
Connecting with caregivers
Parents and caregivers are informed of potential issues and can share calendar events to help Kodi respond with better context.
TEST & IMPACT
Testing Kodi with users.
We ran a user test through UserTesting to gather feedback on our design. Participants were adults aged 18 to 50 due to limited age options. Most participants answered that Kodi was very easy to use, especially for children to communicate their feelings. They picked Kodi's animated facial expressions as their favorite feature.
Kodi was also presented at CSCW 2023. Check out our poster here.
Made with ♡ & ☕︎ in Bay Area, CA
— Serene © 2026