The Philips Kitten Scanner has been awarded a Dutch Design Award. Part of the Philips Ambient Experience for Healthcare solution, the Kitten Scanner allows children to get involved in their own care and learn about the process in a subtle and playful way.

 Children undergoing a CAT (or CT) examination have no real knowledge of what to expect. In fact, a child’s anxiety during the procedure can often be so severe that sedation is necessary. Retakes are also common place, causing delays and prolonging the experience for the child.

The Kitten Scanner is placed in the hospital waiting room. It is a scaled version of the CAT scan that the child will face during the examination. It includes a TV screen and toys– and through role play, it teaches the child about the procedure they are about to undergo.



Animations on the TV screen invite the child to choose an animal character –  a crocodile, elephant, robot or chicken - and place it on the bed of the Kitten Scanner. The child can then slide the bed and character into the bore of the scanner, mimicking what happens in reality. When the animal character is in the scanner, its embedded RFID tag activates an animation on the screen, telling the story of that particular character. Who the character is, what did they do, why they need to go to the hospital for a scan. Through this story-telling, the animation shows children about how a real CAT scanner works, and how doctors see inside the body.

As children are inherently curious, they are naturally attracted to it – it has deliberately been made it very approachable and intuitive to use. There are no buttons to press; placing the toy in the scanner automatically activates it. By putting toys through this mock procedure children can relax and take their minds off why they are there, yet at the same time there are actually learning.

The Dutch Design Award is the third design award the Kitten Scanner has received. It already holds the title ‘best of the best’ from the 2009 red dot Design Awards and a Bronze Industrial Design Excellence Award from the IDSA in September. The Dutch Design Awards jury stated: "This is the next step in humanizing these kinds of products."