In this project I have designed and implemented an interactive system (using Arduino and Java) to support children’s body movement in digital games.
This project was developed in the human-product interaction class at KMUTT in 2008, in Bangkok. The main idea of the ExpressCarpet was to develop a physical carpet with embedded sensors in order to integrate the player’s body movement in digital games.
The application system includes a computer with a Java application, a projector to visualize the puzzle on the ground and the sensor carpet. The puzzle is an image cut into quadratic peaces and disordered by the application software. The stirred image then is projected on the sensor carpet. The game goal is to arrange the pieces in the original way. To rearrange, the player first needs to choose one piece that she or he would like to put in another place (by jumping on the square) and decides then where to put it in. The player can also create own puzzles by uploading any image in the application. The application will cut the image into pieces and project it on the carpet.
The game was developed to support children in exploring the design of puzzles. By uploading different images, players can try out various images and explore which characteristics are needed to design a puzzle.
Physical carpet with integrated sensors.
