Research Project
Fluito: Towards Understanding the Design of Playful Water Experiences through an Extended Reality Floatation Tank System
An extended reality experience designed for use inside a floatation tank, blending the relaxing sensation of floating in water with interactive virtual environments. The study used participants' experiences to develop design strategies for playful, water-based technology experiences.
Abstract
Water's pleasant nature and associated health benefits have captivated the interest of HCI researchers. Prior WaterHCI work mainly focused on advancing instrumental applications, such as improving swimming performance, and less on designing systems that support interacting with technology in water in more playful contexts. In this regard, we propose floatation tanks as research vehicles to investigate the design of playful interactive water experiences. Employing somaesthetic design, we developed a playful extended reality floatation tank experience: "Fluito". We conducted a 13-participant study to understand how specific design features amplified participants' water experiences. We used a postphenomenological lens to articulate eight strategies useful for designers aiming to develop digital playful experiences in water, such as designing to call attention to the water and designing to encourage breathing and body awareness in water experiences. Ultimately, we hope that our work supports people to be playful and benefit from the many advantages of being in water.
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Acknowledgements
We thank everyone who has helped, especially Maria Garcia de la Banda for helping get the floatation tank installed in our wet lab, Yuyang Ji for his collaboration in co-developing the virtual environment, and Ryan Wee for his collaboration in co-developing the pneumatic system.
Collaborators
