Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Fig. 5.8
The interactive playground
5.6.4
Selection
Of the 52 interactions resulting from systematic variation, 13 were implemented
in our playground. The playground interactions are centered around shapes that
normally lead a life floating around the playground freely, but which can be captured
by players who chase them. Captured shapes follow a player in a tail, but can also
be stolen by other players that chase the tail for a while. Players can create new
shapes by standing together, and destroy each others' shapes by running through
another player's tail. Each player can, by shaking a ball (s)he carries, create a pool of
poisonous venom that destroys other players' shapes. All of these actions influence
a player's status, which is expressed by the size of a circle projected around them
(Fig.
5.8
).
5.6.5
Implementation
The interactive playground described in the previous sections has been implemented
in the SmartXP laboratory of the University of Twente. This laboratory consists of
a large hall with rigging equipment which can be raised or lowered. The technical
implementation of the interactive playground favoured a relatively dark environment,
so we created a dark 'cubicle' by using black curtains. The floor area of the cubicle
was6x6m,itsheight 4 m.
5.6.5.1
Hardware
The playground was implemented with a—for these kind of projects typical— setup
consisting of a projector and an infrared camera. The top-down projection made it
possible to display a virtual world on the playground floor. The players' positions
were tracked by the infrared camera, filming reflective markers mounted on the
children's heads. Both the players and small foam balls which were handed out to
them, were equipped with Sun SPOT sensors (Tetteroo
2005
).
