The KidsRoom: A Perceptually-Based Interactive and Immersive Story Environment
Aaron F. Bobick, Stephen S. Intille, James W. Davis, Freedom Baird, Claudio S. Pinhanez, Lee W. Campbell, Yuri A. Ivanov, Arjan Schutte, Andrew Wilson
Media Lab Technical Report
1996.

Abstract:

The KidsRoom is a perceptually-based, interactive, narrative playspace for children. Images, music, narration, light, and sound effects are used to transform a normal child's bedroom into a fantasy land where children are guided through a reactive adventure story. The fully automated system was designed with the following goals:

(1) to keep the focus of user action and interaction in the physical, not virtual space;

(2) to permit multiple, collaborating people to simultaneously engage in an interactive experience combining both real and virtual objects;

(3) to use computer-vision algorithms to identify activity in the space without requiring the participants to wear any special clothing or devices;

(4) to use narrative to constrain the perceptual recognition, and to use perceptual recognition to allow participants to drive the narrative;

(5) to create a truly immersive and interactive room environment.

We believe the KidsRoom is the first multi-person, fully-automated, interactive, narrative environment ever constructed using non-encumbering sensors. This paper describes the KidsRoom, the technology that makes it work, and the issues that were raised during the systemês development.

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