An add-on for playgrounds to enhance physical exertion and nudge towards open ended play
Type
Research Project
Team
Rochelle Spaargen
Rishi Gurrala
Puck Kemper
Mika
Duration
10 Weeks
My Role
research grounding, field studies, brainstorming workshops, embodied interaction, interactive prototyping using Arduino, documentation and testing
Problem Statement
While the availability of playgrounds are ample , the decreasing number of children utilising these and choosing to play indoor games is an increasing concern.
While playgrounds exist, they can be made more interactive with aid of electronics.
Design Methods
Bodystorming-Somasthetic Design
Bodystorming - Immersing in the environment of envisioned product for ideation purposes.
We had two sessions of bodystorming where we explored an open playgorund and a playground with
obstacles.
We undertook a session where as a group of 5, visited a local playground which was an open ground and
tried to come up with games. While we seemed lost at first with an open environment , we were able to
come with some games such as a treasure hunt and a form of tag game. We each then reflected upon the physical exertion, feelings of excitement at what points during the play.
We then did some research and recorded podcasts to discuss the same and came to few conclusions
on what aspects to include such as the game should be easy to initiate, Open-ended in the long term and presence of different coloured lights or objects which positively co-related to the activity.
Brainstorming
We came up with 50 ideas for games and selcted a few which seemed most promising and can be
tested in an indoor environment
Embodied Interaction
We were able to test our ideas using props such a lights, post-its, bats , chairs
and different objects available to us in the environment.
Following this we were able to narrow down the ideas
Testing - we were able to zero down on one idea which was the presence of lights on different obstacles
which had an interaction aspect to it.
We then tested the same in an actual playground where the climbing and running aspect was involved
as well.This gave us the confidence to move to the actual prototyping
Prototyping
We started to now work on actual implementation of the game using arduino to program a light
up pattern. Here we had a central pressure plate which lit up , that indicated the start of the game,
and the there were multiple other object sensors which would light up and had to be attended to in
time. If attended to in time it would light up green and if not it would light up red and the game had to
be started back from the pressure plate
Testing - In this part of testing in a playground , we faced quite a few challenges.
The Arduinos were overheating which lead to connectivity issues and had to be reset on the spot during
gameplay.The time between Light ups were also too short and the reachability of the sensors eliminated
the climbing aspect which defeated the purpose of exertion adding to experience
Embodied Interaction
We were able to test our ideas using props such a lights, post-its, bats , chairs
and different objects available to us in the environment.
Following this we were able to narrow down the ideas
Testing - we were able to zero down on one idea which was the presence of lights on different obstacles
which had an interaction aspect to it.
We then tested the same in an actual playground where the climbing and running aspect was involved
as well.This gave us the confidence to move to the actual prototyping
Re-iteration
We got back to the drawing board where we decided to have a strong theme and focus on the
climbing aspect of the game. For this we chose a particular playground which had animal themed
obstacles.We ditched the pressure plate and substituted it with a central sound system which would
play sounds of the corresponding animals.
Gameplay - When an animal sound is played , the button corresponding to that animal has to be pressed
upon which the next animal sound is played .The buttons were placed in such a way that way
leading up to the obstacle was akin to the movements of the animal.Such as Bee for the hive, The ropes
for the spider and monkey bars for the sounds of monkey.
Final prototyping
We were able to successfully implement this in the playground and test the same.