UPDATE: Exertion Interfaces has grown into its own entity, and is therefore now continued at exertiongameslab.org. The content here is made available for archival purposes.

Exertion Interfaces is a research activity that investigates how the design of computing technology that demands physical exertion can facilitate more exciting experiences. In particular, considering sweat from physical effort might lead to exertion games (exergames) that utilize advantages from video gaming technology, such as supporting players from geographically distant locations, or, in short, "Sports over a Distance".

We have developed several prototypes, such as the Remote Impact system above, to demonstrate our approach of combining gaming technology with sports thinking, and have conducted studies that show that health benefits from sports, such as physical health (addressing the obesity issue) and social health (fostering social connectedness and team building) can be facilitated when the design of the system is right. We focus on understanding how to design such systems. 

Table Tennis for Three on the top page of the technology section of "the Age", Australia's major newspaper: http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-20-your-guide-to-the-national-broadband-network-20110603-1fj9j.html.

This long paper presents an understanding of how designers can approach the design of exertion games, offering insights from the design and teaching of exertion games. The games mentioned in the talk that came out of the teaching using the framework can be seen on the class' blog: gameslecture.blogspot.com and the design cards used are available for download to guide the interested future exertion game designer.     

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller at the Mobile Health conference 4-5 May 2011 at Stanford University, USA.    

The Sydney Morning Herald features the work on Exertion Games in a dedicated section on health and technology in a one pager. 

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller will give a talk on Exertion Games on the 29th of April 2011 at the University of Nevada, Reno, USA.    

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller will give a talk on Exertion Games on the 21st of April 2011 at the Games Innovation Lab at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU), USA.    

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller will give a 2-day workshop on how to design computer games for the active human body on the 13th and 22nd of April 2011 at the Games Innovation Lab at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU), USA.    

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller will give a talk at Sony Computer Entertainment America, Research and Development, Foster City, USA on the 4th of April 2011 on Exertion Games.    

Florian 'Floyd' Mueller will give a talk at Nokia Research Center Palo Alto, USA on the 30th of March 2011 on Exertion Games.