Palo Family Video Device
A presence-aware family video device for Samsung's ID8 lab. Zero setup, perspective tracking, and privacy you can feel.
Family video calling was clunky: accounts, apps, menus, setup. The Palo brief was a device a grandparent could use without instructions, one that felt present in the home rather than like a screen to operate.
Presence and privacy had to be designed together. The device should sense when you are near and surface the right people, while making it obvious and physical when the camera is truly off.
Zero setup
Out of the box the Palo devices find each other and connect. No account wizard, no pairing codes. Turn it on and your people are there.
Presence-aware UI
As a user approaches, their avatar grows and centers on the display. The interface reacts to proximity, so the device feels aware instead of idle.
Perspective tracking
The video feed shifts with the viewer's position, tilting the frame as they move, so a call feels more like looking through a window than at a flat image.
Privacy you can feel
A physical wheel on the back slides the camera dead. An intentional delay before connecting lets users set mic and camera state first, turning a safeguard into a calm moment.
Palo's UX was specified around presence, connection, and privacy as a small set of device behaviors.
Patent US 9,843,766, video communication device and operation, with paired-device data and processing.
| Behavior | What it does |
|---|---|
| Zero setup | Devices auto-connect out of the box |
| Presence detection | Avatar grows and centers on approach |
| Perspective tracking | Frame shifts with the viewer |
| Camera deactivation | A physical wheel cuts the camera |
Delightful wake
The camera transition out of sleep was designed as a soft reveal, not a hard cut, so the device feels alive when you come near.
Intentional connect delay
A short, deliberate pause before a call connects lets the caller set mic and camera, turning a privacy safeguard into a calm beat.
Home and contacts
A presence-driven home where nearby people surface as tappable avatars.
Connecting and calls
Incoming and outgoing call flows with mic and camera controls and a live preview.
Privacy and settings
Physical camera wheel, color picker, and device settings grounded in real home use.
The goal was to strip the friction out of family video and make the device feel present and trustworthy.
Accounts, apps, pairing
Plug in and connect
A static screen
Proximity-aware avatars
A software toggle
A physical camera wheel
Palo was one of the lab's concepts brought to working prototype, with the interaction model protected by patent.
Setup steps out of the box
Video device patent
Samsung innovation lab
Built to working prototype
The interaction model and UX specifications for Palo, the presence and perspective behaviors, the privacy interaction, and the design direction in the ID8 lab.
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