Combining playware exergaming with a mobile fitness app

Abstract: We propose a novel playware as a merge between exergames and mobile fitness apps to engage the users in physical exercises, not only as competitive play, but also in the form of cooperative play. The concept connects modular interactive tiles with radio communication to Android tablets and smart phones, which can connect to the Internet. This allows the players to monitor their playware exergaming performance on the smart device(s). A test was set up over 8 days allowing two school classes to compete with each other on which class was going to collect the most points playing on the modular tiles during the test. The test subjects were from 6th and 7th grade (12-13 years old children). As a social playware, we investigated how the playware mediated cooperative and competitive play amongst the users. It was found that the majority of game play involved social interaction between players, and that 8 out of 10 pupils on the top-10 were girls. The playware seemed to motivate the girls to become physically active

Effects of Short-Term Training of Community-Dwelling Elderly with Modular Interactive Tiles

Objective: The objective of this study is to test for the increased mobility, agility, balancing, and general fitness of community-dwelling elderly individuals as a result of short-term training involving playing with modular interactive tiles (Entertainment Robotics, Odense, Denmark) at two community activity centers for the elderly. Three different tests from the Senior Fitness Test were used in order to test a variety of health parameters of the community-dwelling elderly, including those parameters related to fall prevention. Materials and Methods: Eighteen community-dwelling elderly individuals (63–95 years of age; mean, 83.2 years of age) were assessed in one intervention group without the use of a control group. The intervention group performed nine group sessions (1–1.5 hours each) of playful training with the modular interactive tiles over a 12-week period in two community activity centers for the elderly. Data were collected using pre-tests and post-tests of the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT), the 8-foot Timed Up & Go Test (TUG), and the Chair-Stand Test (CS). Data were analyzed for statistically significant differences and increases of means. Results: The 6MWT, TUG, and CS measurements showed statistically significant differences and increases of means between the pre-tests and post-tests with the 6MWT (P<0.001) (means difference, 22.4 percent), TUG (P<0.001) (means difference, 15 percent), and CS (P<0.002) (means difference, 14 percent). Fifty-six percent of the elderly progressed from one health risk level to a better level, according to the three tests. Conclusions: Statistically significant increases in scores were found across all tests, suggesting an improvement of many different health parameters for the elderly. Well-established research has shown the relationship between such test scores and fall incidents, balancing, mobility, agility, etc. This significant improvement in the health status of the elderly is obtained in as few as nine training sessions over a 12-week period of “playing” exergames with the modular interactive tiles

Co-located Augmented Play-spaces:Past, Present, and Perspectives

In recent years, many different studies regarding Co-located Augmented Play-spaces (CAPs) have been published in a wide variety of conferences and journals. We present an overview. The work presented in these papers includes end user's perspectives as well as researcher's perspective. We place these within four aspects in this review: 1) Argumentation, the underlying reasons or the higher end goals to investigate interactive play from a user's perspective, 2) Systems, the kind of systems that are created, this includes their intended use which fits the end user's perspective, 3) Evaluation, the way in which the researchers evaluate the system, 4) Contribution, the goal of the studies from the researcher's perspective; what does the study contribute to the research community. CAPs are often multimodal in nature; this survey pays attention to the multimodal characteristics in relation to all four aspects. This overview contributes a clearer view on the current literature, points out where new opportunities lie, and hands us the tools for what we think is important: bringing the end-user and research perspective together in intervention based evaluations. In short, this paper discusses CAPs: their past, the present, and the perspectives

Social robots: a promising tool to support people with autism. A systematic review of recent research and critical analysis from the clinical perspective

In the past decade, interdisciplinary research has revealed the potential benefits of using social robots in the care of individuals with autism. There is a growing interest in integrating social robots into clinical practice. However, while significant efforts have been made to develop and test the technical aspects, clinical validation and implementation lag behind. This article presents a systematic literature review from a clinical perspective, focusing on articles that demonstrate clinical relevance through experimental studies. These studies are analysed and critically discussed in terms of their integration into healthcare and care practices. The goal is to assist healthcare professionals in identifying opportunities and limitations in their practice and to promote further interdisciplinary cooperation