Samsung Odyssey Waveform

What it does

A product and service platform that helps eSports coaches and players monitor and improve focus, stress, eye strain, and cognitive performance. It turns real-time physiological data into personalized feedback, smart break alerts, and e-coach feedback.

Your inspiration

Our brief asked us to enhance sports through technology. As innovation designers, we need to look into the future, and the future of sports is eSports. We found that 17% of kids today dream of becoming gamers, but unlike traditional sports, eSports lacks tools to monitor performance, especially the in mental side. This gap leads to burnout, poor routines, and a narrow view of performance. Personally, I have friends in the eSports scene, and connecting more with this community during the process made it clear how real this issue is. It was incredibly rewarding to design something that could genuinely support them.

How it works

The system combines a gaming headset equipped with EEG (electroencephalogram) electrodes, eye-tracking, and software. It collects real-time physiological data such as attention, stress, and cognitive load, while AI analyzes and links it to gameplay context. The system builds a mental profile, helping players identify patterns and refine their performance before, during, and after matches. It provides actionable insights and recommendations to both players and coaches, as well as personalized training exercises and dashboards with intuitive data visualization. Users can also rewatch gameplay to analyze critical moments, like spikes in stress or drops in focus, and work on improvements. The EEG headset is designed for performance and comfort, featuring speakers tuned for competition, an ergonomic fit, and a hot-swap battery system for uninterrupted sessions. Built to integrate seamlessly into their routines, it helps players train smarter, not just harder.

Design process

The process began with in-depth research on users, the market, potential technologies, and scientific studies on EEG, eye-tracking, injuries, and performance. We used crowd-sourcing, forms, and interviews with diverse experts, from coaches and eSports psychologists to neuroscientists. Each insight shaped our concept, and after valuable feedback from Samsung's design team, we moved into execution. We studied Samsung’s positioning and the Odyssey product line to align our design language. At the same time, research insights, benchmarking, and user input became the basis for feature definition and early wireframes of the software. With sketches and wireframes ready, we explored the potential of AI tools (like Vizcom, Lovable, and Veo) to prototype rapidly. Given our 6-week timeframe, this approach enabled us to present more realistic concepts to users, gather detailed feedback, measure impact and refine our solution. In this step of refinement we deepened sketches with analog prototyping, built a final 3D model, used 3D printing, and developed the software in high fidelity. Finally, we created a promotional video to convincingly showcase Odyssey Waveform’s products, features, and potential.

How it is different

Unlike standard fitness trackers or generic mindfulness apps, this design is the first to integrate cutting-edge sensors in the context of eSports. It doesn’t just collect data, it interprets it in the context of gameplay. By combining physiological metrics with in-game performance, it delivers insights that are both meaningful and actionable. While most tools focus solely on game metrics or mental/physical wellness, this system bridges the two, offering real-time, personalized interventions. It helps players fine-tune cognitive states, improve focus, and train with intent, addressing the often-overlooked mental side of performance. The design process involved ongoing collaboration with players, coaches, eSports psychologists, and neuroscientists, resulting in a smart, gamer-centric tool that supports both peak performance and long-term mental health.

Future plans

In terms of development, the next step is building functional prototypes, in collaboration with Mibtec Lab, with whom we’ve already established contact. We aim to leverage Samsung’s existing initiatives, such as the Game Lab and Morning Stars Team, to bring the project closer to production. On the business side, we’ll expand our B2B model for universities, pro teams, and training centers, while scaling a B2C version for individual players. We also plan to strengthen partnerships with research institutions to co-develop hardware, validate insights, and explore uses in mental wellness, education, and other high-performance environments.

Awards

Odyssey Waveform won the Samsung Award at the Samsung Innovation Campus Challenge 2025, held in collaboration with Samsung Italia and Politecnico di Milano. In addition to winning the prize, the project was featured on the official Samsung Newsroom: https://bit.ly/3IgHRg4.