COSAM E-newsletter, May 2011
Kinesiology Program Adapts “Wii” Activity Games for Paralyzed Players
Wii Team: l-r (back) Kinesiology Professor Kevin Taylor,
Michael Uriarte (Kines), Computer Science Professor Chris Lupo,
Seth Black (CSC), Gerilynn Gobuyan and Colleen Cook (Kines),
Mike Ward, and Jami Nease (CSC).
A team of Cal Poly professors and students have created a modified Nintendo Wii system that allows people with quadriplegia to play Wii Sports.
The “Wii-B-Fit project” created a universal remote design to incorporate game play of the popular Wii console for individuals with all levels of quadriplegia.
The design includes a laptop playboard with simplified action buttons to aid those with limited hand mobility and a hat with sensors that allows the user to mimic the functionality of the Wii-remote to achieve normal game play for both Wii-Bowling and Wii-Tennis.
Helping the university develop and test the “Wii-B-Fit” project was Mike Ward, a former San Luis Obispo firefighter who has quadriplegia due to a spinal cord injury.
The “Wii-B-Fit” is the latest successful effort from the university’s “Activity for All” program, founded by Kinesiology Professor Kevin Taylor. The program brings faculty and students together to design adaptations and assistive devices to integrate people with disabilities into a wide variety of activities. It’s funded by a $125,000, 5-year grant from the National Science Foundation and provides senior project opportunities for students in both kinesiology and engineering.
Playing a motion-oriented interactive computer game, especially in a social setting with others, is a healthy activity for disabled users, Taylor explained.
“It’s difficult for people with quadriplegia to get the physical activity necessary to stimulate brain activity and prevent diseases associated with paralysis. And people with different forms of paralysis can often feel alienated from their peers because of restricted abilities to participate in games and social activities,” he said.
“Using adaptive technology, we can create more opportunities for individuals with disabilities to interact with others,” he stressed.
Taylor and kinesiology students Gerilynn Gobuyan and Michael Uriarte worked with Ward and Computer Engineering Professor Christopher Lupo and computer engineering students Craig Leitterman, Jamie Nease, Canh Sy, Seth Black and Mike Tranto to complete the project. It was the second team to tackle the “Wii-B-Fit” concept, initiated by Taylor.
After two teams and four quarters of work, “we really hit one out of the park,” Taylor said of the game playing device. “We really want to make people aware of what can occur at a modern, polytechnic university. These projects give the students experience and benefit the users.”
The professors and students demonstrated the “Wii-B-Fit” project at San Luis Obispo’s Farmers’ Market April 28, and at the San Luis Obispo Abilities Fair April 29.
Under the NSF grant terms, the university is required to give away the final adaptive project so the modified Wii went home with Ward.
“It’s great. It’s just like playing a normal game of Wii for me,” said Ward with a grin after demonstrating his game with students and news media in San Luis Obispo. “Working with the engineering and kinesiology students to develop it was a great experience,” he said. “I didn’t know how they were going to do it, and there were a couple of hitches, but they did.”
See KSBY TV News coverage of the project at:
http://www.ksby.com/videos/cal-poly-students-create-wii-for-people-with-disabilities/
Get more details on the “Wii-B-Fit” technology adaptations and process at:
http://users.csc.calpoly.edu/~clupo/teaching/Capstone/pastwork/wiibfit_whitepaper.pdf