Meet the Sentinel LaunchPad™
Enriching Children’s Lives Through Education, Exploration and Entertainment
Also used in the treatment of videogame, online gambling, social media and other screen addictions
Revolutionary new personal computing device simplifies a parent’s role in managing and monitoring
their child’s safe and productive online world from pre-teen years into adulthood.
Click Here to Download our Whitepaper “Sentinel LaunchPad™ Design Elements”
The StudyStation™ has been discontinued and is replaced by the LaunchPad™ for clinical use
The tiny LaunchPad desktop personal computing appliance, when connected to a keyboard, mouse, display and webcam/document camera, serves as a replacement in the home for multiple screen devices including personal computers, smartphones, videogame systems and smart TVs dramatically simplifying parental controls and device management. It also helps parents introduce social media (and other potentially risky content) to children by enabling limited, age appropriate access in a highly supervised, yet convenient, manner. There has been a growing movement to delay the introduction of smartphones to children and the LaunchPad can help parents make that happen in a practical way.
Education, Exploration and Entertainment modes define HOW the Sentinel system can be used.
Each mode has parental control settings to define when, how long and in what manner a specific user can operate the system.
Each mode has specific use limitations such as web site access and applications appropriate for that mode.
Three Modes - One Life - click here for more information on how these modes work
For the full hardware and software specifications, click here
We take for granted the importance of computers, tablets, smartphones and gaming systems for education, entertainment and keeping the world connected.
But are these devices and all they bring, safe and appropriate for children?
“The evolution of tech devices and delivered content has not made child wellbeing a priority. With all the devices, apps and websites to monitor and manage, parental controls have not made parenting easier. And to make matters worse, tech savvy teens can often find workarounds. With Sentinel Computers simplified parental controls and patented, hardware-enforced limits, parents can rest easy.
Excess screen time has been associated with so many physical and mental health problems for youth today and it’s not bad parenting that has brought us to this place. Billions of dollars depend on the algorithms intended to keep eyes on screens and legal action against the tech companies or child protection laws will never replace adequate parental supervision. The LaunchPad provides an all-in-one solution to help parents provide this supervision.”
Dr. Kenneth Woog, clinical psychologist, computer engineer, founder of the Computer Addiction Treatment Program and cofounder of Sentinel Computers LLC.
The LaunchPad™ was given its name to symbolize its role in
helping parents successfully launch their children into adulthood.
Education modes Study Desktop, Online Learning and Guided Instruction provide a familiar computer study desktop for researching, writing and learning, an online videoconferencing environment as well as a guided instruction mode for online course study without the distraction of watching videos, playing games or chatting with friends. Programmable screen and meditation breaks are available to help improve productivity, focus and study habits.
Exploration modes Guided Exploration and Exploration Desktop allow a child to access curated online content featuring such topics as art, history, music, sports, travel, science, technology, design and computer programming. While off screen exploration and play time for children is important, the LaunchPad allows parents to set time aside for life enriching activities online as an alternative to mindless entertainment.
Entertainment modes Entertainment Desktop, Media Player, Web Arcade Gaming and Amazon Luna Cloud Gaming (Amazon Prime or Luna subscription required) allow age-appropriate access to video gaming, videos, social media and major streaming services. PC Remote Play mode allow Windows, XBOX and Steam gaming when a Windows Gaming PC is located in the home an PS Remote Play Gaming allows PlayStation gaming when a Sony PlayStation 4/5 console is located in the home. Gaming Timer mode helps parents sync entertainment time on other devices (i.e. Nintendo® Switch, Android Tablet) with the LaunchPad.
Simplified and Solid Parental Controls
Enter in your child’s birth month and year, set the start, end and total daily time limits for each mode and the LaunchPad does the rest. No need to manage Apps or parental control software. No need to specifically enable apps at certain times with specific limits. The LaunchPad automatically knows what apps and websites should be available based on the age of the child and how the system is being used in one of three major modes - Education, Exploration and Entertainment. Parental control settings based on age and other factors are derived from website user policies and guidance from parenting resources such as Common Sense Media. Of course, parents can override these settings if desired. Social Media access during Entertainment mode is managed with it’s own separate settings for time limits, parent’s perception of child maturity and can even be restricted altogether.
Keeping your child safe is our number one priority. Dangerous sites are automatically restricted. Rather than following your child’s every move on every game, discussion board or social media site, parents can now monitor their child’s screen activity quickly, easily with screen image capture, If something appears concerning, then dig deeper. Are they doing their homework? What kind of sites are they visiting? Parents can choose to monitor screens while their child is doing school work but then allow privacy at certain times in certain modes.
Advanced Features
Advanced Features Subscription is optional and is included free ($99 value) for the first year. It offers a number of additional capabilities to help parents more conveniently manage their child computer use to keep them safe and productive.
Periodic Timestamped Screen Shots. Staying aware of your child’s online activity has never been easier and less intrusive. High resolution screen images are captured periodically while a user is logged in and stored in the Usage Logs which are available for parents to view later. Screen capture can be set to Private (no ability to capture), Manual (on demand only) or Auto at a rate from 3 minutes to 30 minutes between captures. These settings are configurable by user and by mode (Education/Exploration and Entertainment). The front panel display indicates whether or not the current login is Private or not. Screen shots during Online Learning Mode are blurred for privacy. This feature helps parents ensure their child stays on task while doing schoolwork and can be used for transparency during entertainment modes. Images can be saved to the parents computer and both logs and images are maintained online for 120 days.
Study Reports - provide a mechanism to help your child organize and complete their daily schoolwork or other responsibilities before getting Entertainment time.
Remote Login Updates. This allows parents to add or remove time for the current user’s login or take them off line altogether if problematic content is being accessed. .
Remote Messaging - Parents can also send messages through the system to the child.
Academic Bonus - automatically rewarding additional Entertainment Mode time for improved academic performance. Parents set the GPA criteria and then periodically record their child’s school grades when they are posted.
Behavioral Bonus - provides a token economy to record behaviors intended to reward (or cut back) Entertainment Mode time for good behavior and meeting certain responsibilities such as completing chores.
Allowance System (not tied to any financial institution) provides a convenient way to help your child learn money management and organize funding for possible online or off-line purchases.
Entertainment Mode Screen Time Tapering - makes it easy to automatically cut back on Entertainment time gradually over weeks or months to wean a child from excesses.