How Exergames Can Enhance Exercise with Force Feedback

IMPROVING EXERGAMES
USING FORCE-FEEDBACK

Tadeusz Stach & T.C. Nicholas Graham
EQUIS Lab,
Queen’s University equis.cs.queensu.ca

TAKE-HOME MESSAGE

“Designers should consider using force-feedback
to provide richer exergaming experiences”

IMPROVING EXERGAMES USING FORCE-FEEDBACK equis.cs.queensu.ca

PHYSICALITY OF EXERCISE
Exercise connects people to the physical world

Running Baseball Cycling
Feet impacting the Vibrations of a bat Strain when pedalling
ground hitting a ball uphill


EXERGAMING FEELS ARTIFICIAL
Interactions are less physical than in real-world exercise

Swan Boat [Ahn 2009] Heart Burn [Stach 2009]
No physical feedback when colliding Lacks the vibrations and forces felt
with on-screen objects in real-world driving


LET’S GET PHYSICAL
Feedback using forces and vibration (haptics)

Tactile Feedback Kinesthetic Feedback
Provides a sense of touch Provides the perception of force


APPLYING FORCE-FEEDBACK TO EXERGAMES
Addressing three important areas of exergame design

1. Balancing group 2. Safe and healthy 3. Immersive
exercise activity experiences
Allow people of Guide players to Absorb player focus
different physical recommended levels of and distract from
abilities to play exercise physical activity
together


EXPLORING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN EXERGAMES
Experiment equipment and setup

Game Computer Game Computer

Projector Projector

Gamepad Recumbent Bicycle Recumbent Bicycle Gamepad

Room 1 Room 2


EXPLORING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN EXERGAMES
Experiment equipment and setup


EXPERIMENT 1: BALANCING GROUP EXERCISE
Allowing people of different physical abilities to play together

Group activity has been
shown to be a motivator in
exercise [Beauchamp 2007]

People of different physical
abilities have trouble
exercising together [Allender 2006]

Hypothesis
Force-feedback in exergames
can allow less-fit people to
maintain a sense of
competitiveness


THE TRUCK PULL EXERGAME
A two-player virtual tug-of-war

Gameplay
Players pedal on a exercise
bike to control their truck

Trucks move in the direction
of the player who pedals
fastest

Kinesthetic feedback
Pedal tension increases as
player gains the lead, and
decreases as the player falls
behind


EVALUATING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN TRUCK PULL
Comparing kinesthetic feedback to standard controls

90

80

70
Average Distance (pixels)

60 Average distance
50 between the trucks to
40
the start line
Competition was significantly
30
more balanced in the force-
20 feedback version than in the
10 control case
0
Force-feedback Control



Control

7
Perceived competition
Participants felt that the
force-feedback version
15
2 allowed for more equal
competition

No difference Force-feedback



Control

5

General preference
Participants preferred the
4
15 force-feedback version
overall

No difference Force-feedback


EXPERIMENT 2: SAFE AND HEALTHY ACTIVITY
Guiding players to recommended levels of exercise

Aerobic exercise is often
prescribed at a specific level
of intensity [Swain 2006]

Exergames do a poor job of
guiding players towards
appropriate activity levels
[Graves 2007]

Hypothesis
can guide players to effective
levels of exercise


THE BALLOON BURST EXERGAME
A competitive shooting-gallery exergame

Gameplay
Balloons are launched more
frequently with faster pedal
speed

If pedal speed is too fast,
balloons fail to launch

Tactile feedback
The faster a player pedals,
the more rapidly the
gamepad vibrates

If max pedal speed is
exceeded, the gamepad
vibrates continuously


EVALUATING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN BALLOON BURST
Comparing tactile feedback to standard controls

80

70
Average Pedal Speed (RPM)

60

50
Average pedal speed
40 There was no significant
difference in pedal speed
30
between the two versions of
20 the game
10

0


EVALUATING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN BALLOON BURST
Comparing tactile feedback to standard controls

Control Force-feedback

General preference
8
12 visual-feedback of pedal
speed over force-feedback
4
Players felt visual-feedback
offered better precision
No difference


EXPERIMENT 3: IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCES
Absorbing player focus to distract from physical activity

Exergames attempt to shift
peoples focus to gameplay,
rather than physical exertion

Physical feedback has been
shown to increase immersion
in virtual environments
[Ramsamy 2006]

Hypothesis
can increase virtual presence


THE PEDAL RACE EXERGAME
A racing game with physical terrain

Gameplay
Players pedal on an exercise
bike to race virtual tricycles
around a track

Kinesthetic feedback
Pedal tension is doubled on
mud, and halved on ice


EVALUATING FORCE-FEEDBACK IN PEDAL RACE

7

6
Mean PQ Responses

5
Presence Questionnaire
4 scores [Witmer 1998]
Players’ sense of virtual
3 presence was significantly
higher in the force-feedback
2 case than the control

1



Control
No difference

2
1
Sense of realism
Participants felt that the
force-feedback version felt
more realistic than the
21 control

Force-feedback



Control

4

3
General preference
force-feedback version
17
overall

Force-feedback
No difference


ISSUES FOR DESIGNERS
Force-feedback can serve diverse purposes

Improve player Guide players to Increase immersion
balance safe and healthy
activity


Force-feedback should have a clear link to the game environment


Integrating force-feedback is limited by hardware capabilities


FUTURE WORK
Further research into force-feedback in exergames

Exploring other input devices

Customization of force-feedback

Combining the three proposed applications of force-feedback


FORCE-FEEDBACK IN EXERGAMES
Force-feedback can provide richer exergaming experiences

tstach@cs.queensu.ca


REFERENCES

 Ahn, M., Kwon, S., Park, B., Cho, K., Choe, S. P., Hwang, I., Jang, H., Park, J., Rhee, Y., and
Song, J. Running or Gaming. In Proc. ACE, 345-348 (2009)
 Allender, S., Cowburn, G., and Foster, C. Understanding Participation in Sport and Physical
Activity Among Children and Adults: a Review of Qualitative Studies. Health Education Research,
21(6), 826-835 (2006)
 Beauchamp, M.R., Carron, A.V., McCutcheon, S., and Harper, O. Older Adults’ Preferences for
Exercising Alone Versus in Groups: Considering Contextual Congruence. Annals of Behavioral
Medicine, 33, 200-206 (2007)
 Graves, L., Stratton, G., Ridgers, N.D., and Cable, N.T. Comparison of Energy Expenditure in
Adolescents when Playing New Generation and Sedentary Computer Games: Cross Sectional Study.
British Medical Journal, 335, 1282-1284 (2007)
 Ramsamy, P., Haffegee, A., Jamieson, R., and Alexandrov, V. Using Haptics to Improve Immersion
in Virtual Environments. In Proc. ICCS, 603-609 (2006)
 Stach, T., Graham, T.C.N., Yim, J., and Rhodes, R.E. Heart Rate Control of Exercise Video Games.
In Proc. GI, 125-132 (2009)
 Swain, D.P., and Franklin, B.A. Comparison of Cardioprotective Benefits of Vigorous Versus
Moderate Intensity Aerobic Exercise. The American Journal of Cardiology, 97(1), 141-147 (2006)
 Witmer, B.G, and Singer, M. J. Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence
Questionnaire. Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 7(3), 225-240 (1998)


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