By Andrew Liszewski
Saving a bit of money by dropping your pocket change into a piggy bank is a rather passive way to go about it. However this piggy bank concept, designed by Wang Chao, Maggie Kuo and Jordi Parra, takes a completely opposite approach. It’s kind of like one of those Tamagotchi virtual pets that were all the rage many years ago, except that instead of just pushing a few buttons to give it some virtual attention, you need to feed it a small bit of money by inserting your credit card.
The concept mockup uses an iPhone hidden behind a laser cut wood pattern facade for the animated eyes and expressions, which is also connected to an Arduino BT to detect when a credit card is inserted into the slot. The general idea is that the ‘piggy bank’ can detect the presence of people, or when it’s been moved, and demands financial attention when it gets sad. The money taken from the credit card is deposited into a separate savings account (which makes me think using a debit card would be smarter) so over time you end up saving a bit of money while trying to keep it appeased.
[ Needy Piggy Back Concept ] VIA [ Coudal Fresh Signals ]
