Fluito: Towards Understanding the Design of Playful Water Experiences through an Extended Reality Floatation Tank System
Maria F. Montoya, YuYang Ji, Ryan Wee, Nathalie Overdevest, Rakesh Patibanda, Aryan Saini, Sarah Jane Pell, and Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller. 2023. Fluito: Towards Understanding the Design of Playful Water Experiences through an Extended Reality Floatation Tank System. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 7, CHI PLAY, Article 410 (November 2023), 28 pages. https://doi.org/10.1145/3611056
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.
We designed Fluito, an extended reality floatation tank (pod) system for enriched wellness experiences.
Our overarching goal is understanding how to design playful interactions in water settings. To begin contributing to such an understanding, we selected a floatation tank as a research vehicle and decided to explore playful experiences in such a floatation tank.
Our resulting prototype is called “Fluito”, using the Latin word for floating. Fluito features a unique combination of technology (a floatation tank, a virtual reality (VR) headset, a heart rate sensor, and a pneumatic system) that leverages water’s affordances to create and amplify different experiences, such as play, relaxation, and bodily illusions.
Fluito’s interactive technology
We used a waterproof, light-based wireless heart rate sensor and transmitted the data in real time to the development platform Unity 3D. We used pumps outside the tank to create bubbles inside the tank to offer tactile stimuli, delivering air through hoses attached to the tank’s wall. The bespoke pneumatic system comprises four 5V air pumps connected to a microcontroller. The microcontroller wirelessly communicates with Unity 3D over WiFi.
Experiencing Fluito means joining a journey guided by a virtual water spirit. The virtual water spirit helps the participant to travel through different VR worlds in which they experience different ways to be engaged with water, ranging from relaxing to exciting, such as diving, drifting afloat and being almost weightless. Through this journey, both the water spirit and the participant will (hopefully) transform themselves towards becoming better beings through collaboration.