Document Type

Article

Publication Date

8-16-2020

Abstract

Exergames are serious games that involve physical exertion and are thought of as a form of exercise by using novel input models. Exergames are promising in improving the vestibular differences of children with autism but often lack of adaptation mechanisms that adjust the difficulty level of the exergame. In this paper, we present the design and development of Circus in Motion, a multimodal exergame supporting children with autism with the practice of non-locomotor movements. We describe how the data from a 3D depth camera enables the tracking of non-locomotor movements allowing children to naturally interact with the exergame . A controlled experiment with 12 children with autism shows Circus in Motion excels traditional vestibular therapies in increasing physical activation and the number of movements repetitions. We show how data from real-time usage of Circus in Motion could be used to feed a fuzzy logic model that can adjust the difficulty level of the exergame according to each childs motor performance. We close discussing open challenges and opportunities of multimodal exergames to support motor therapeutic interventions for children with autism in the long-term.

Comments

This is a pre-copy-editing, author-produced PDF of an article accepted for publication in Journal of Multimodal User Interfaces, volume 15, in 2021 following peer review. The final publication may differ and is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12193-020-00345-9.

A free-to-read copy of the final published article is available here.

Copyright

Springer

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