1. EXACT – Exergaming for active healthy ageing and rehabilitation
Sruti Subramanian &
Louise Petersen Matjeka

2. EXACT Research Objectives
The EXACT project will improve long-term adherence to exergaming by designing exergames to self-adapt to individual goals, needs and barriers.
Develop a gaming rehabilitation system that endorses appropriate exercises performed correctly by using personalized instructions, online exercise feedback, and motivational messages.
Map cerebral activity during exergaming to enable patient-specific selection of exercises in rehabilitation of brain activity and function.

3. Exploring Player Exerperiences of Exergames
This PhD project is centered around the design of exergames focusing on designing interactive and playful game mechanics for long-term adherence and enjoyment. To do so this project will deal with the design of exergames from two interconnected levels: a) the concrete level; developing specific designs and design solutions for exergames in the abovementioned design cases, and b) an abstract level; in order to assure long-term adherence this project will be analyzing the players’ bodily experiences of the developed designs from a theoretical perspective mainly phenomenological. The aim of doing so is to extract knowledge on a general level to inform future development of exergame designs.
RQ:
Concrete level:
How to design with specific movements for meaningful interactive game mechanics in elderly people’s unsupported mundane environments (their homes)?
How to adapt and design pervasive games for physical activity in elderly people’s unsupported mundane environments (their homes)?
What are the challenges – and solutions?
How can the designs support the changes in the physical exercises based on the players’ individual progress in physical development and skills acquisition?
Abstract level:
How and by what means is the player’s bodily experience affected in the designed exergames (from a phenomenological perspective)?
And what are the subsequent implications for the designs?
How can this knowledge be leveraged into future exergame designs?

4. Research Questions: Technology
RQ1 What is the comparative accuracy between two general motion recognition sensors namely: the Kinect and IMU sensors?
RQ2 What is the comparative accuracy between two common devices used in balance training exergames namely: Wii balance board and the DDR floor sensor.
Game Design
RQ3 What are the game design guidelines for balance training exergames, with evaluations performed on series of iterative studies for different categories of patients?
RQ4 What is the game design guideline for pervasive exergames: Possibilities of different gamification elements?
RQ5 How can the exergames be designed to provide user specific instructions and customized feedback to the users based on their performance within the game?