Tangible User Interfaces for Children
Pauliina Paarlahti
New Interaction Techniques
Fall 2007
Introduction
Children are active learners who utilize all their senses while exploring the world around them. Direct physical interaction with the world is in critical role in their lives, affecting substantially the development of children’s cognitive and motor skills [2]. Interaction takes place in different forms: for example in touching, tasting, manipulating and building objects. Much of this interaction happens while children are playing – either with everyday objects or with toys. This children’s traditional exploratory play with physical objects can be supported by extending and enhancing objects by interactive power of digital technology [4]. This is where the potential of Tangible User Interfaces (TUIs) steps in.
Designing for children
Children forms a very heterogeneous user group – in fact, it is specious to even try to generalize them into one group. Abilities in childhood vary much between different ages but also differences between individuals in the same age group can be huge. These differs can be seen in different areas of development, like in reading and writing skills, motor skills or in general knowledge of the world. Focus of their interest varies also much.
Designing technologies for children is apparently challenging. Meeting children’s needs in deep and fulfilling way requires that children are considered during the design process all the way from the beginning [1, 9]. Age specific information is of course important (like ability to read, write and use different devices) but also knowledge of things that children find important is essential. In studies [8, 10] it has become evident that things that children appreciate are especially: control, social experiences (collaboration), expressiveness and curiosity.
Advantages of tangible user interfaces for children
In relation to young children’s abilities and focuses of interests, traditional interface use is often developmentally inappropriate for children. Lack of fine motor skills, lack of cognitive understanding of mapping between controller use and what is happening on the screen, and lack of abstract representational skills necessary to understand typical screen-based are just some examples of those difficulties, that children may face while dealing with traditional interfaces [4]. One important thing is also children’s low patience which is tested if children are asked to sit infront of a computer screen, keyboard and mouse for a long time. Children want to act, manipulate and touch things.
Tangible user interfaces have many advantages when compared to the use of traditional user interfaces. First, they provide digital interactivity using real physical objects that are relevant to the task [4]. For example children’s traditional toys can have new interactive functions which will support children’s cognitive development. Second, tangible user interfaces offer to a child an alternative way of interaction and control of the computing environment [17, 18]. This interaction can happen via body movements, touching, feeling, manipulating and building and include equipments that are already familiar to them (like toys). Third, tangible user interfaces usually require little time to learn how to use them [17, 18]. Long instruction are not neccessary when children can learn how it works by trying and exploring. Fourth, they support ’trial-and-error’ activity by giving continuous presentation of the object and making it possible to use rapid incremental and reversible actions whose impact on the object can be seen immediately. Fifth, they support more than one user. [17, 18] This is a very important thing in the context of children. Children like to do things together, co-operate, and imitate other’s actions.
Examples of tangible user interfaces for children
Tangible user interfaces for children has been an interesting topic to study in recent years. Many different kinds of examples and studies can be found. In the following examples the idea is to present tangible interfaces that look like traditional toys but have been given new content that make them interactive.
Other examples and studies concerning tangible user interfaces for children can be found from here.
Neurosmith Music Blocks
Neurosmith Music Blocks is a classic toy with a tangible user interface. Children can arrange five blocks by the shapes on them to creatively compose music. As a feedback they can hear an entire composition by pressing play button or just randomly place the blocks to create their own music art. [11, 13]
Music Blocks system includes three different kinds of programmed musical styles: Jumpin’ Jive Jazz, African rhytms, and Mozart’s Night Music [11].
More info about Neurosmith Music Blocks from Genius Babies.
Figure 1. Neurosmith Music Blocks is a classic toy with a tangible user interface. New versions of the toy are still released. Picture from [11].
Spelling Bee
Spelling Bee (2007) is a game, which offers a novel way for children to learn spelling. Game’s outlook equals with the classic ABC block game and the idea of the game is also shared: children are supposed to form words by trying different combinations of the blocks. [3]
What is new in Spelling Bee compared to the traditional version, is the immediate multimodal feedback (light, sound) that children will receive for their performance. For example if the feedback is given with lights, green light represents a legal word and red light a non-word. Possibility to get feedback makes learning more effective and fun. [3]
More info about Spelling Bee from ACM Portal.
Figure 1. Classical ABC game blocks on the left and the Spelling Block prototype on the right. Picture from [3].Terms for the right to use the pictures are shown here.
PlayPals
PlayPals by MIT Media Lab (2006) is a doll-like tangible interface for children. It provides children a playful way to communicate and play between remote locations sharing multimedia experiences and virtual co-presence. [5]
PlayPals system consists of two or more wireless figurines with their electronic accessories. Dolls are remotely synchronized. This is shown for example if a child at one location moves one doll’s hands, the synchronized doll moves its hands in the same way. Dolls’ accessories work as different kinds of communication tools: for example a “walkie-talkie” will enable synchronous voice communication. [5]
Tests with prototype version of the systems proved that remote co-play can take place while playing with PlayPals. Synchronous voice communication was noticed to have a crucial role in it – synchronized gestures did not cause that much co-play in the case of remote locations. [5]
More info about PlayPals by MIT Media Lab. A video is available in YouTube.
Figure 1. PlayPals dolls look just like ordinary dolls. A video of the system can be seen in YouTube. Picture from [6]
Jabberstamp
Jabberstamp by MIT Media Lab (2007) is a system that children can use to embed their voices and ambient sound in their art. Jabberstamp can be used with children’s drawings, collages or painting which are made on regular paper. Papers are marked with a special rubber stamp which is pressed onto the paper to record sounds into children’s art. After recording children can touch the marks made by the rubber stamp with a small trumpet and they will hear the recorded sounds. These sounds can include different kinds of sounds from stories and other human voices to environmental sound effects. [12, 16]
Jabberstamp supports children collaboration and makes it possible to share their ideas and stories with other although they are not yet able to read and write. Jubberstamp is meant for over 4 years old children. [12]
More info about Jabberstamp by MIT Media Lab and Rafelandia where also a demo video is available.
Figure 1. Children can use Jabberstamp for adding voices to their drawings. A special rubber stamp is used for recording the sounds and a little trumpet to listening. Picture from [12]. Terms for the right to use the picture are shown here.
Magic Story Cube
Magic Story Cube by Mixed Reality Lab (2004) enables storytelling in a new way. Traditional book is replaced by a foldable cube. The unfolding of the cube equals to turning pages of traditional books. When a child unfolds the cube, different parts of the story will presented in 3D with multimedia supports including human voice, sound and music. [7, 14]
Use of Magic Story Cube requires use of a head mounted display (HMD) and a camera, which is attached into the front of the headset. These are connected to a computer running software that recognises via the camera picture which part of the story will be told. Manipulation of the story is made by two-hands interactions with the cube. [7, 14]
Feedback from users have been positive: users have felt more entertained when they have had the possibility to physically manipulate and explore the cubes to see and hear the story. [7]
More info about Magic Cubes and their recent development by Mixed Reality Lab. Also video of Magic Story Cube is available.
Figures 1 and 2. In the picture on the left is the physical setup of the Magic Story Cube. In the picture on the right is shown what the story looks like while using the Magic Story Cube. Picture from [7]. Terms for the right to use the pictures are shown here.
wIzQubes
wIzQubes by Mixed Reality Corporation (2007) is a new – and commercial – version of the Magic Story Cube. Like Magic Story Cube, also wIzQubes supports storytelling using mixed reality technology enabling virtual 3D stories. Unfoldable cube that was used in earlier version is now replaced by two “magic cubes” which can be moved around. These movements (like turning or clicking them together) affect the way the storyline goes for example by changing the view the story is seen or adding accessories or characters to the scene. Story is shown differently every time depending on how the children manipulate the cubes. [15]
User does not need to use a headset while using wIzQubes. Story is shown on screen. A web camera is used to capture the images on the cube and computer us used to run the software. [15]
More info about wIzQubes by MXR Corporation including also a product demo video.
References
[1] Antle, A. N. (2006). Child-user abstractions. CHI '06 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Montreal, Quebec. 478-483.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1125451.1125556
[2] Antle, A. N. (2007). The CTI Framework: Informing the design of tangible systems for children. Proceedings of the 1st international conference on Tangible and embedded interaction TEI '07, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. 195-202.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1226969.1227010
[3] Ben-Tov, E., Dekel, A., Roschak, J. & Yavne, G. (2007). The Spelling Bee. An augmented physical block system that knows how to spell. Proceedings of the international conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology ACE '07, Salzburg, Austria. 212-215.
Available (17.12.2007):http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1255047.1255092.
[4] Bolas, M., Druin, A., Revelle, G. & Zuckerman, O. (2005). Tangible User Interfaces for Children. CHI '05 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Portland, Oregon. 2051-2052.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1056808.1057095
[5] Bonanni, L., Liebermann, J., Vaucelle. C. & Zuckerman, O. (2006). PlayPals: Tangible interfaces for remote communication and play. CHI '06 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Montreal, Quebec. 574-579.
Available (17.12.2007):http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1125451.1125572
[6] Bonanni, L., Liebermann, J., Vaucelle. C. & Zuckerman, O. (2007). PlayPals.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1om4C6-7iE
[7] Cheok, A. D., Li, Y., Pan, J., Zhou, Z. (2004). Magic Story Cube: an interactive tangible interface for storytelling. Proceedings of the 2004 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in computer entertainment technology ACE '04, Singapore. 364-365.
Available (17.12.2007):http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1067343.1067404.
[8] Druin, A. and C. Solomon (1996). Designing multimedia environments for children, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. According to Xu, Dianne (2005). Tangible User Interface for Children An Overview.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/destech/compute/research
/conference/may2005/Xu.pdf
[9] Druin, Allison (1999). Cooperative inquiry: developing new technologies for children with children. Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 592-599.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/302979.303166
[10] Druin, A., L. Hanna, et al. (1999). The Design of Children's Technology, Moran Kaufmann Publishers, Inc. According to Xu, Dianne (2005). Tangible User Interface for Children An Overview.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/destech/compute/research
/conference/may2005/Xu.pdf
[11] Genius Babies (2007). Music Blocks - Neurosmith.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.geniusbabies.com/mozmusblocby.html
[12] Hayes Raffle, Cati Vaucelle, Ruibing Wang & Hiroshi Ishii (2007). Jabberstamp: Embedding sound and voice in traditional drawings. IDC 2007, Aalborg, Denmark. 364-365.
Available (17.12.2007): http://tangible.media.mit.edu/content/papers/pdf/
Jabberstamp_IDC07.pdf
[13] McNerney, T. S. (2004). From turtles to tangible programming bricks: explorations in physical language design. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing 8(5), 326-337.
Available (17.12.2007):http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1023817.
[14] Mixed Reality Lab (2006). Magic Cubes.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.mixedrealitylab.org/index.php?option=com_
contentz&task=view&id=146&Itemid=174
[15] MXR Corporation (2007). wIzCubes. Product info.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.mxrcorp.com/product/product.html
[16] Rafelandia (2006). Jabberstamp.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.rafelandia.com/jabberstamp/
[17] Xu, D., Mazzone, E. and MacFarlane, S. (2005). Informant design with children - designing children's tangible technology. 1st International Workshop "Re-Thinking Technology in Museums", Limerick, Ireland.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/destech/compute/staff/read/
Publish/ChiCi/references/informant_design_with_children.pdf
[18] Xu, Dianne (2005). Tangible User Interface for Children An Overview.
Available (17.12.2007): http://www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/destech/compute/research
/conference/may2005/Xu.pdf
Other studies on this topic
Africano, D. et al. (2004). Designing Tangible Interfaces for Children's Collaboration. CHI '04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Vienna, Austria. 853-868.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/985921.985945
Antle, A. N. (2007). Designing tangibles for children. What designers need to know. CHI '07 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, San Jose, California. 2243-2248.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1240866.1240988
Beer, D. et al. (2007). A case study of tangible flags: a collaborative technology to enhance field trips. Proceeding of the 2006 conference on Interaction design and children IDC '06, Tampere, Finland. 1-8.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1139073.1139081
Budd, J. et al. (2007). PageCraft: Learning in context. A tangible interactive storytelling platform to support early narrative development for young children. Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children IDC '07, Aalborg, Denmark. 97-100.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297277.1297296
Brown, M., Mazzone, E., Read, J. C. & Xu, D. (2007). Designing and testing a tangible interface prototype. Aalborg, Denmark. Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children IDC '07. 25-28.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297277.1297282
Fujimon, C., Hirose, M., Kuzuoka, H. & Yamashita, J. (2007). Tangible Avatar and Tangible Earth: a novel interface for astronomy education. CHI '07 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, San Jose, California. 2777-2782.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1240866.1241078
Garzotto, F. & Rizzo, F. (2007). "The Fire and The Mountain": Tangible and Social Interaction in a Museum Exhibition for Children. Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children IDC '07, Aalborg, Denmark. 105-108.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297277.1297298
Grechenig, T., Kappel, K., Költringer, T. & Tomitsch, M., (2006). Experiences from designing a tangible musical toy for children. Proceeding of the 2006 conference on Interaction design and children IDC '06, Tampere, Finland. 169-170.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1139073.1139078
Horn, M. S. & Jakob, R. J. K. (2006). Tangible Programming in the Classroom: a practical Approach. CHI '06 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Montreal, Quebec. 869-874.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1125451.1125621
Ishii, H. & Piper, B. (2002). PegBlocks: a learning aid for the elementary classroom. CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 686-687.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/506443.506546
Ishii, H., Raffle, H. & Yip, L. (2007). Remix and Robo: sampling, sequencing and real-time control of a tangible robot construction system.Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children IDC '07. Aalborg, Denmark. 89-96.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297277.1297295
Jehan, T. & Vaucelle, C. (2002). Dolltalk: a computational toy to enhance children's creativity. CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 776-777.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/506443.506592
Purchase, H. C. & Wyeth, P. (2002). Tangible Programming Elements for Young Children. CHI '02 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems, Minneapolis, Minnesota. 774-775.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/506443.506591
Wyeth, P. (2007). Agency, Tangible Technology and Young Children. Proceedings of the 6th international conference on Interaction design and children IDC '07, Aalborg, Denmark. 101-104.
Available (17.12.2007): http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/1297277.1297297