2025 Galleries
The Spark Gallery pages are one of our most popular design destinations, with thousands of visitors each year. Check out some of the latest Spark entries, in the galleries below.
Galleries // 2025 Spark:Spring Student // ZESTY: AI Pet Robot
ZESTY: AI Pet Robot
Finalist
Competition: Spark:Spring Student
Designer: Sihyoung Park
Design Type: Product & industrial, Digital: Apps
Company / Organization / School: Hongik University
Team Members: Sihyoung Park & Jeongsu Lee
According to a 2024 survey by 'Asana', over 60 percent of people today experience boredom and loneliness due to repetitive routines and limited living spaces. While pet ownership is often recommended as a remedy, many cannot care for real animals because of lifestyle constraints. To address this, we developed Zesty, an AI-powered robotic pet that brings the joy of companionship through technology. ZESTY is a community-driven social platform and interactive robot that uses augmented reality to record and share everyday moments. Shaped like a small dog and easy to carry, ZESTY creates emotional engagement both indoors and outdoors. It projects a virtual dog using a built-in beam and responds to users in real time through motion sensors. Users can take photos and videos of shared experiences using the built-in camera. Through the ZESTY mobile app, users can log their moments, save walk records, and connect with others in a digital pet owner community. By sharing their daily lives with ZESTY, users are encouraged to be more emotionally active and socially connected. ZESTY is not meant to replace real pets. Instead, it reimagines robotic companionship as a meaningful part of emotional well-being and modern lifestyle.
