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Title Towards mobile collaborative exergaming
Author(s) Gorgu, Levent; O'Hare, G. M. P. (Greg M. P.); O'Grady,
Michael J.
Publication
Date 2009-09
Publication
information Dini, O. et al (eds.). Second International Conference on
Advances in Human-oriented and Personalized Mechanisms,
Technologies, and Services, 2009. CENTRIC '09. Proceedings
Publisher IEEE Computer Society
Link to
publisher's
version http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/CENTRIC.2009.16
Item record http://hdl.handle.net/10197/1811
Towards Mobile Collaborative Exergaming
Levent Gorgu, Gregory M.P. O’Hare, Michael J. O’Grady
CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies,
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
{levent.gorgu, gregory.ohare, michael.j.ogrady}@ucd.ie
Abstract—Today’s high calorie diets and low physical activity
levels contributes towards childhood obesity. Exergaming, a
combination of ”exercise” and ”gaming” was conceived as a
means of addressing this problem. Fundamental to the success
of exergaming is to successfully harness conventional mobile
computing technologies to deliver platforms for games that are
adaptive to the exercise requirements of individual children.
This paper presents the design of one such platform that
enables gaming to occur in mobile, collaborative contexts.
Keywords-mobile computing, exergaming, pervasive health;
I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years, childhood obesity has become a major
problem in many countries. The reasons for obesity include
high calorie diet and the serious lack of physical activities in
children’s daily life. Video games are considered the main
reason for physical inactivity [1]. Such games do not need
any serious physical effort and they consume time from
the young population that could be better spent in physical
activities like playing out-doors. Also, these games do not
need any collaboration, and the players generally prefer to
play them alone, which contributes to antisocial children [2].
The exergaming concept searches for ways to combine
exercising and gaming by disguising the tiresome side of
working out with the uplifting side of playing to make the
exercise process more attractive, not only for the younger
population but also for anybody suffering from physical ex-
ercise deprivation [3]. Thus, mobile collaborative exergam-
ing forces players to collaborate and communicate with each
other, while implicitly encouraging them to increase their
physical activity levels while playing but without inducing
boredom.
A. Motivation for Exergaming
People that weigh more than their expected weight
are termed overweight or obese. According to several re-
searchers obese people have an increased risk for many
health conditions and overweight children can more easily
become overweight adults [4] [5]. There are approximately
17.6 million children worldwide aged less than five, which
are estimated to be overweight. Most of the research about
the treatment of obesity recommends an increase in physical
activity combined with a controlled low calorie diet [6].
Nutrition researchers at UNC-Chapel Hill [7] surprisingly
demonstrated that the lack of physical activity, but not
increased energy intake, is also responsible for obesity
among youths aged 12-19.
Exergames aim to encourage their players to undertake
physical movement during the game play. These moves are
combined with the challenges in the game and are also
necessary for the game to continue, which motivates the
player. Optimistic results about physical activity levels have
been demonstrated [8], but all these systems are console
dependent. On the other hand, studies [9] [10] show that
mobile games are estimated to reach 60 million consumers
in 2009 and the mobile collaborative gaming industry is seen
as an area with great potential.
B. Related Research
Evidence exists that the incorporation of activity into
computer games has potential health benefits. In [23], it has
been demonstrated that playing active video games increases
energy expenditure in children. However, further research is
needed to determine the long term effects on weight and
body mass index [21]. In a study that compared perception
of exertion and enjoyment between exergaming and standard
treadmill exercise, subjects reported a significantly higher
rating of enjoyment in the case of exergaming [22].
Realising exergaming in the outside world is an attractive
proposition in light of the previous discussion. As a step
towards this, the use of mobile and location-aware technolo-
gies has been proposed and demonstrated [19] [20] [18].
The potential of these and other prototypes have prompted
certain researchers to investigate the underlying frameworks
and design principles of exergaming [17] [16]. Research in
exertion interfaces is also relevant to this domain [15]. In the
case of this paper, the issue of collaboration and how it might
be achieved in outdoor contexts is of particular importance.
II. LU TF EN - GAME STR ATEG Y
Lutfen is designed to be played in the campus of Uni-
versity Collage Dublin (UCD). At present, it is a stand-
alone game. Zones and routes are defined, and the player
is encouraged to move between the different zones.
A. System Architecture and Design
The two key components are the Lutfen Game Server
(LGS) on the network, and the Lutfen Mobile Application
2009 Second International Conference on Advances in Human-Oriented and Personalized Mechanisms, Technologies, and Services
978-0-7695-3776-4/09 $26.00 © 2009 IEEE
DOI 10.1109/CENTRIC.2009.16
61
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Figure 1. General overview of Lutfen system architecture.
(LMA) on the mobile device (see Fig. 1). LGS consists
of the Lutfen Database (LDB) that maintains the game
status and the Lutfen Servlets (LSERV) which allows the
LMA to access and modify the game databases. During
the game, locations of all players are obtained from built-in
GPS receivers on the mobile devices. LMA uses these data
to continuously update the game scenario. It communicates
with LGS via LSERV and accesses to LDB or makes updates
on it if it is necessary.
B. Implementation
A single player version of Lutfen is implemented using
Agent Factory Mobile Edition [14]. Intelligent agents have
been successfully deployed in many mobile computing do-
mains including tourism [11] and mobile commerce [12] and
their characteristics make them a particularity apt solution
for applications that must operate robustly in complex and
dynamic environments. Specifically, the Lutfen Mobile Ap-
plication (LMA) has been coded using AFME’s BDI-style
agents. During runtime, an AFME Perceptor continuously
reads the GPS data and updates its belief set concerning the
state of the player and the game itself. The Game Agent
in the LMA uses these beliefs to make logical commitments
for the game play - for example, identifying those zones into
which the player should move. In this case, the LMA would
generate an audio alert and show the new objective to the
player (Figure 2). Note that players can see their objectives
during the game by pressing the Objectives! button (Figure
3).
III. ONGOING RESEARCH
Lutfen provides a basic but robust implementation of the
exergaming paradigm. While constrained in practice to a
mobile phone, there is significant opportunity for enhancing
the game from a number of perspectives. Firstly, the game
should be personalized to the requirements of the players. A
one-size-fits-all approach does not exploit the full potential
Figure 2. The Player is notified that they have a new objective.
of exergaming. Secondly, the environment in which the game
is played may not be harnessed fully in terms of its potential
for exercise. Thirdly, a social element must be introduced
that enables multiple players collaborate.
Lutfen is also being augmented with a toolkit that will
enable the game be deployed rapidly in new physical envi-
ronments. The possibility of using virtual agents as players is
also being investigated. The strategies that drive such agent-
player behaviour would not be competitive or selfish; rather
they would be governed by the exercise requirements of the
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Figure 3. Objectives can be reviewed at any time.
constituent team members.
IV. CONCLUSION
In this paper, a practical implementation of a mobile
exergame was introduced. Exergaming is likely to become
an important tool in the fight against obesity. Though aimed
at children, this gaming paradigm is equally applicable to
adults whose lifestyle may tend to be sedentary in nature,
either as a result of choice or as a side effect of their
professional lives.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This material is based upon works supported by the Sci-
ence Foundation Ireland (SFI) under Grant No. 07/CE/I1147
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