Motion-based applications, such as Exertion games (games that combine physical activity and play), are becoming increasingly popular among children. Exertion games have been widely utilized by researchers to improve children’s motivation to participate in physical activity, since children are likely to spend more time engaged in sedentary activities [1]. Furthermore, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise activity [2]. A major challenge faced by researchers in the field of exergames is that children are not motivated to use these games after the initial novelty of the game wears off. The aim of my project is to improve children’s motivation to exercise using exertion games by improving their interactive experiences within the games. Prior work has found that that the precision of motion recognition systems used in exertion games is associated with increased immersion in the game [3]. Therefore, I plan to improve the effectiveness of motion recognition systems in recognizing children’s motions. Currently, my approach focuses on distinguishing children’s motions from adults’ motions in order to understand the motion qualities that are unique to children. The ultimate goal of my project is to improve children’s willingness to participate in exercise activities in order to satisfy the recommended number of hours that children should engage in physical activity.
References
- Jane Gould. 2013. Consumer Insights: Nickelodeon’s “Story of Me.” Retrieved August 30, 2017 from http://blog.viacom.com/2013/12/consumer-insightsnickelodeons-story-of-me/
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “How Much Physical Activity do Children Need?,” 2015. [Online]. Available: https://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/basics/children/index.htm. [Accessed: 09-Sep-2017].
- Jasmir Nijhar, Nadia Bianchi-Berthouze, and Gemma Boguslawski. 2011. Does movement recognition precision affect the player experience in exertion games? In International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for interactive entertainment (INTETAIN ’11). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-30214-5_9