Tovertafel ("Magic Table") is a

games console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a t ...

designed for use in healthcare settings that was launched in 2015 by the Dutch

medical technologies Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of liv ...

company Active Cues. The console contains a high-quality projector, infrared sensors, a loudspeaker and a processor with which interactive games are projected onto a table. The console has been developed for people with cognitive challenges in care institutions, daycare, public libraries and schools. There are variants for various target groups, including people with

dementia Dementia is a disorder which manifests as a set of related symptoms, which usually surfaces when the brain is damaged by injury or disease. The symptoms involve progressive impairments in memory, thinking, and behavior, which negatively affe ...

, people with an intellectual disability and children with a developmental disorder. The device has been used in institutions in the Netherlands, Belgium, the UK, Ireland, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Australia and New Zealand.

Origins

The ideas behind the Tovertafel originated in 2009 from the PhD research of Hester Anderiesen. Anderiesen started her research at the faculty of

industrial design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical Product (business), products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advan ...

Engineering (IDE) at Delft University of Technology. Ultimately, this research, in which she investigated how to keep people in the mid to late stages of dementia active, and to counteract

apathy Apathy is a lack of feeling, emotion, interest, or concern about something. It is a state of indifference, or the suppression of emotions such as concern, excitement, motivation, or passion. An apathetic individual has an absence of intere ...

, led to a prototype of the device. The Tovertafel appeared on the market as a product in 2015. In the same year, Anderiesen also founded the company behind the Tovertafel, called Active Cues, based in

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

Awards

*Dutch Game Awards: Best Serious Game *Boer & Croon Management: Co-generation award *New Venture '15 *

PwC PricewaterhouseCoopers is an international professional services brand of firms, operating as partnerships under the PwC brand. It is the second-largest professional services network in the world and is considered one of the Big Four accounting ...

Social Impact Lab: scale-up *EIT Digital Challenge 2018 * EY Entrepreneur Of The Year '18 finalist

References

External links

* * * {{Video game consoles, Generation=Other 2015 video games Computer-related introductions in 2013 Regionless game consoles 2010s toys Video games developed in the Netherlands Educational hardware Video gaming in the Netherlands