Neurodevelopment disorders (NDD) are a group of pathologies related to the mental sphere which reduce cognitive, emotional and motor skills, affecting the capability of autonomous life. This thesis explores an innovative way to treat these disorders using a new technological approach called Tangible Mixed Reality (TMR). TMR is obtained by merging two technologies: Mixed Reality on head-mounted displays, enabling the interaction with digital contents superimposed to the surrounding environment; smart objects, i.e. everyday life physical objects enhanced with sensors and actuators that make them interactive and able to collect data from the outer world automatically. This thesis describes how TMR has been exploited to create Holomarket, a game that simulates the experience in a supermarket. The view of the physical environment surrounding the user is enriched with digital shelves arranged on the lateral walls to create an aisle where virtual foods are positioned organized by type. When the game starts, the player finds himself/herself in front of a digital shopping list that indicates the products that he/she must collect by dragging and dropping food items from shelves to the shopping list. After the gathering phase in Mixed Reality, the user has to pass the physical food with an embedded RFID tag on a cash register (a smart object) and guess the price of each product or the cost of the total purchase. A peculiarity of Holomarket is the possibility to customize the experience by choosing the levels to play, the number of foods on the shelves and on the shopping list. An explorative empirical study with 4 NDD people was performed to assess the likability and usability of Holomarket for this target group. Participants found Holomarket an enjoyable experience that raised curiosity and interest. These results, although very preliminary, highlights the potential of TMR experiences as a complement to traditional treatments, and may pave the ground towards new projects and studies on the integration of MR & smart objects and their combined use for people with NDD.
I disturbi del neurosviluppo (NDD) sono un gruppo di patologie legate alla sfera mentale che riducono le capacità cognitive, emotive e motorie, influenzando negativamente la possibilità di avere una vita autonoma. Questa tesi esplora un modo innovativo per trattare questi disturbi, usando un nuovo approccio tecnologico chiamato Tangible Mixed Reality (TMR). La TMR si ottiene unendo due tecnologie: Realtà Mista su display montati sulla testa, consentendo l'interazione con contenuti digitali sovrapposti all'ambiente circostante; smart objects, ovvero oggetti fisici della vita quotidiana arricchiti con sensori e attuatori che li rendono interattivi e in grado di raccogliere automaticamente dati dal mondo esterno. Questa tesi descrive come la TMR è stata sfruttata per creare Holomarket, un gioco che simula l'esperienza in un supermercato. La vista dell'ambiente fisico che circonda l'utente è arricchita da mensole digitali disposte sulle pareti laterali per creare un corridoio in cui gli alimenti virtuali, posizionati sugli scaffali, sono organizzati per tipologia. All'inizio del gioco, il giocatore si trova di fronte a una lista della spesa digitale che indica i prodotti che deve raccogliere trascinando gli alimenti dagli scaffali alla lista della spesa. Dopo la fase di raccolta in Mixed Reality, l'utente deve passare il cibo fisico con un RFID incorporato su un registratore di cassa (uno smart object) e indovinare il prezzo di ciascun prodotto o il costo dell'acquisto totale. Una particolarità di Holomarket è la possibilità di personalizzare l'esperienza scegliendo i livelli da giocare, il numero di cibi sugli scaffali e sulla lista della spesa. È stato condotto uno studio empirico esplorativo con 4 persone affette da NDD per valutare la piacevolezza e l'usabilità di Holomarket per questo gruppo. I partecipanti hanno trovato Holomarket un'esperienza piacevole che ha suscitato curiosità e interesse. Questi risultati, sebbene molto preliminari, evidenziano il potenziale delle esperienze di TMR come complemento ai trattamenti tradizionali e possono spianare la strada a nuovi progetti e studi sull'integrazione della Realtà Mista e smart objects, nonché il loro uso combinato per le persone con NDD.
Holomarket : a tangible mixed reality playful application for people with neurodevelopment disorders
LONGONI, NICOLÒ
2018/2019
Abstract
Neurodevelopment disorders (NDD) are a group of pathologies related to the mental sphere which reduce cognitive, emotional and motor skills, affecting the capability of autonomous life. This thesis explores an innovative way to treat these disorders using a new technological approach called Tangible Mixed Reality (TMR). TMR is obtained by merging two technologies: Mixed Reality on head-mounted displays, enabling the interaction with digital contents superimposed to the surrounding environment; smart objects, i.e. everyday life physical objects enhanced with sensors and actuators that make them interactive and able to collect data from the outer world automatically. This thesis describes how TMR has been exploited to create Holomarket, a game that simulates the experience in a supermarket. The view of the physical environment surrounding the user is enriched with digital shelves arranged on the lateral walls to create an aisle where virtual foods are positioned organized by type. When the game starts, the player finds himself/herself in front of a digital shopping list that indicates the products that he/she must collect by dragging and dropping food items from shelves to the shopping list. After the gathering phase in Mixed Reality, the user has to pass the physical food with an embedded RFID tag on a cash register (a smart object) and guess the price of each product or the cost of the total purchase. A peculiarity of Holomarket is the possibility to customize the experience by choosing the levels to play, the number of foods on the shelves and on the shopping list. An explorative empirical study with 4 NDD people was performed to assess the likability and usability of Holomarket for this target group. Participants found Holomarket an enjoyable experience that raised curiosity and interest. These results, although very preliminary, highlights the potential of TMR experiences as a complement to traditional treatments, and may pave the ground towards new projects and studies on the integration of MR & smart objects and their combined use for people with NDD.| File | Dimensione | Formato | |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10589/152293