CorpOperatio: Game-inspired App for Encouraging Outdoor Physical Activity for People with Intellectual Disabilities

Abstract

This thesis presents a serious mobile exergame for people with intellectual disabilities, to help people with intellectual disability be more physically active. Exergames are games with the purpose of physically engaging the user in the gameplay, and intervenes with sedentariness and repetitive behavior. The game is based around the use of augmented reality, which is described as bringing 3D virtual objects into a 3D real environment in real time.

As the field of physical activity in people with intellectual disabilities is a low-research field, the project aims to create a technical solution to them improve their physical health. There are few solutions tailored for people with intellectual disabilities to aid in physical exercise, something we wanted to change.

A physical activity mobile game was created using the Unity game engine and augmented reality. Requirements and design choices came through literature review, reference meetings and meetings with professional psychologists. The game was tested by intellectually disabled users in a controlled, randomized trial over the course of four days, with interviews after testing to get results.

While evaluation of the application rvealed areas of potential improvement, the application is already usable for people with intellectual disabilities. Augmented reality proved to be challenging to understand initially, but also fun, once the concept was understood.

We have created an application for encouraging physical activity for people with intellectual disabilities. The application shows promise, but also improvement points for it to be deployed to the public market.