SPECIAL TOPIC

dose of fun exercise, the augmented climbing wall could also be utilized for improving motor skills. This is still a work in progress. The challenge is in designing an effective human-computer interface for providing meaningful feedback about human movement while climbing. When implemented correctly, computer-generated augmented feedback can both motivate and guide motor-skill learning [ 3, 4]. Without feedback, the learner may not fully understand what their body is doing and what to improve when practicing new skills.

Currently our augmented climbing wall provides the possibility of an automatic video replay of a previous climb with a side-by-side comparison to a model performance, which has been shown to be beneficial in other sports [ 5]. Our future directions include visualizing relevant movement parameters in the video or directly on the wall. This should allow more detailed feedback, for example, pinpointing and visualizing differences between expert and beginner performances.

One important source of motivation in exercising is social contact. For example, the augmented wall can be used for sharing user-created routes and high scores. It is also possible to provide performance statistics for competing with others and for following individual improvement over time. We further believe an augmented exercise environment should be interesting for an audience. It could provide information about performance, enable the audience to interact with the climber, and keep other climbers entertained while waiting.

We expect the combination of real-time video analysis and video projections will be utilized in a variety of sports in the future. For example, many sports, such as gymnastics, dance, and football could benefit from interactive floor projections. A related and recent commercial application is Nike’s House of Mamba, a full-size basketball court covered with LED displays for interactive graphics.

FUTURE OF HCI,
SPORTS, AND GAMES

What seems to be lacking is a closer
connection between human-computer
interaction (HCI) and sports science,
especially sports and exercise
psychology. Although the motor-
to make the training more engaging
without negatively affecting learning.
In light of these results, we suggest that
extra empowerment should be studied
more in the design of human-computer
interfaces for exercise and sports.

CLIMBING WITH CHAINSAWS

Games and technology can also bring climbing walls to life. We have developed an augmented climbing wall (Figures 2 and 3) that consists of a projector, a depth camera, and a computer for analyzing the climber’s movements, providing feedback about the climber’s performance, and creating meaningful tasks for the climber [ 2]. The system can be used to project interactive graphics on the wall, such as chainsaws, which a climber needs to avoid.

Climbing can be thought of as a
spatial puzzle solved using the body.
The climbing routes (called problems
in bouldering) are analogous to game
levels. Interactive graphics can add
new kinds of problem solving to the
wall, which would not be possible
with climbing holds only. Interactive
graphics can create a new temporal
dimension to climbing, for example,
waiting for a moving chainsaw to pass.
Events can also be triggered depending
on what a climber does on the wall.
These elements can make training
more fun and motivate spending more
time on the wall. Space can be saved,
as a small wall can host long (or even
infinite) routes with holds automatically
revealed while the climber progresses.
As games are played using real
climbing movements, they benefit non-
augmented climbing as well.

In our user experiment, a game of “chasing chainsaws” was seen to make the climbing practice fun—“Game feeling makes it fun”—however, it changed the climbing experience. Veteran climbers commented, “Not climbing anymore. Rushing from one big hold to another and keeping eye on the saw.” Playing a chainsaw game is likely to increase endurance and strength but less likely to develop perfect technique.

In addition to getting one’s daily

Figure 3. An augmented climbing wall enables creating and sharing projected climbing routes (left) and adding interactive graphical elements for creative full-body gameplay (right). Figure 2. The augmented climbing wall concept with projected graphics and body tracking for interaction and augmented feedback.