Abstract
One common concern with video games today is the lack of physical activity they demand from the user. The design of games and tangible user interfaces (TUIs) that stimulate players and engage them into fun exercising activities is starting to attract the attention of many researchers and companies. This paper presents the software and hardware design and development of a TUI intended for exercise-based games targeted mostly towards children. The proposed TUI, SmartPads, can be constructed using elemental building blocks (pads) into numerous shapes. The pads-which are individually controlled by microcontrollers-are mapped onto a computer screen in real-time. A user interacts with the TUI by stepping on the pads. To evaluate the functionality and efficiency of the TUI, we developed three games in the field of exergaming. The games also have an educational value and are integrated with multimedia output modalities to enrich children’s playing experience.
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Abbreviations
- 3D:
-
Three dimension
- AR:
-
Augmented reality
- CST:
-
Connection status tree
- DC:
-
Direct current
- FSR:
-
Force sensitive resistor
- GND:
-
Ground
- GUI:
-
Graphical user interface
- HR:
-
Heart rate
- ID:
-
Identifier
- IDE:
-
Integrated development environment
- IN:
-
Input signal
- LED:
-
Light-emitting diode
- OUT:
-
Output signal
- padID:
-
Pad identifier
- PC:
-
Personal computer
- RX:
-
Serial receiving line
- sideID:
-
Side identifier
- SPEED:
-
SmartPads exergaming and edutainment diversion
- THR:
-
Target heart rate
- TPL:
-
Time per letter
- TUI:
-
Tangible user interface
- TV:
-
Television
- TX:
-
Serial transmitting line
- USB:
-
Universal serial bus
- Vcc:
-
Integrated circuit power supply pin
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Acknowledgement
This work is funded by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund NPRP 09 - 052 - 5 - 003. Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the QNRF.
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Hafidh, B., Al Osman, H., Karime, A. et al. SmartPads: a plug-N-play configurable tangible user interface. Multimed Tools Appl 72, 1507–1530 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-013-1459-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11042-013-1459-z