The document proposes using a serious game and gamification on smartphones to incentivize people to take the stairs instead of elevators or escalators. It discusses using smartphone sensors to recognize physical activities like climbing stairs and walking. A game would have single-player and community modes to engage users and encourage physical activity. The system is still in development to test activity recognition and gamification aspects. The goal is a low-cost, portable solution to increase physical activity levels worldwide.

1. San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
From a Physical System to a Pervasive Solution
to Increase People Physical Activity:
Is It Possible?
Matteo Ciman, Ombretta Gaggi
Department of Mathematics
University of Padua, Italy
{mciman, gaggi}@math.unipd.it
NIME’13
San Jose, CA, USA
July 15, 2013

2. Background - 1
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 2 of 15

3. Background - 2
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 3 of 15

4. Background - 3
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 4 of 15

5. Project idea
Use a Serious Game and Gamification principles to
incentivize people to make physical activity, in
particular take stairs instead of elevators or
escalators
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 5 of 15

6. First approach
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
«Piano stairs» by the Fun Project of Wolkswagen
Results: more than 66% of people preferred the «Piano Stairs»
instead of the escalators
6 of 15

7. Our approach
Big issue of the «Piano Stairs»:
 Expensive in terms of construction time and
components
 Difficultly portable
Our improvement
Pervasive solution that provides fun using only a
smartphone and its sensors
 More portable
 Less expensive
 World distribution possible
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 7 of 15

8. Related Works
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
Nike+ Ipod
Nike+ FuelBand
8 of 15

9. Our system – Activity Recognition
Research area explored in serveral ways:
 Using external accelerometers attached to the
body
 Using smartphones sensors
Accuracy ≈ 90%
with smartphones
Problem:
 Not a real-time feedback
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 9 of 15

10. Our system – Activity Recognition
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
Climbing stairs action
Walking action
Parameters:
• Window size
• Features
10 of 15

11. Our system
Main purposes:
 Engage people
 Make fun
Two different game modes:
 Single mode: personal levels and achievements
 Community mode: designed for public stairs and
to create community challenges
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 11 of 15

12. Our system - Gamification
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
Foursquare example
12 of 15

13. Our System - Platforms
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 13 of 15
 Cross platform development to reach the majority
of the people and devices
 Problems with background applications in iOS, not
convenient a cross-platform approach
 At the moment we are developing an Android
application, in the future we will develop the iOS
application

14. Our System – Energy consumption
 Avoid energy waste from the application
 Tests to determine how much data acquisition
influences on energy consumption (sampling every
60ms on a Samsung Galaxy):
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
Duration App. active Smart. Mode Consumption
7hh:30mm No Offline 2%
7hh:30mm Yes Offline 4%
14 of 15

15. Conclusions and Future Works
 Our idea: serious game to incentivize people to
make physical activity
 Currently under development
 Tests to find the right combination of information
needed for activity recognition
 Gamification and Serious game aspects
San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013 15 of 15

16. San Jose, CA - July 15, 2013
From a Physical System to a Pervasive Solution
to Increase People Physical Activity:
Is It Possible?
Matteo Ciman, Ombretta Gaggi
Department of Mathematics
University of Padua, Italy
{mciman, gaggi}@math.unipd.it
NIME’13
San Jose, CA, USA
July 15, 2013