Universitat de València, thanks to its institute of robotics (IRTIC) and Fundación Orange, have created a free videogames application called Pictogram Room for people suffering from autism. It will allow these people to look at themselves in a mirror and see a puppet superimposed which will replicate any movement, discover parts of the body, carry out body postures or, simply, move and play. This project has had the collaboration of Plan Avanza from the Spanish Ministry for Industry, Trade and Tourism.
The application can be downloaded on the Internet gratis (www.pictogramas.org) and it offers a bunch of educational videogames for children and adults suffering some kind of autism.
The University of Birmingham, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Fundación Adapta, Fundación Mira’m and the associations of autism in Burgos and Ávila have also collaborated in the project.
Pictogram Room represents a playful way of improving in key areas of the development of these people, taking advantage of the strong points of every person. Through a system of projector camera and movements recognition, the image of the person is reproduced, along with a series of graphic and music elements that will guide his/her learning.
The application can be used with home and personal computers having Windows 7 system and the sensor Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox is necessary. This project is one of the moves in the augmented reality world with an educational aim for people suffering from autism. It is, at the same time, the first videogame for autistic kids developed with the technology of the sensor Kinect for Microsoft’s Xbox. With this tool the players can interact without any need of wearing any special garment or having to hold any device in their hands. Pictogram Room allows one player (acting as pupil) or two players (two pupils or pupil/educator) to participate in the games. With the aim of having a predictable structure, all games follow the same layout and the person with the role of educator has to help the person acting as a pupil, besides he/she can act as a player.
All the activities have a progress sensor on the top of the screen. This progress sensor is a stable help and thus, predictable, for people suffering any kind of autism.
Last update: 12 de march de 2012 08:54.
News release
