Metazoa Ludens: Mixed reality environment for playing computer games with pets

Abstract

Metazoa Ludens, the play of (computer) games between pet owners and pets in a mixed reality environment defines an easy to usability, tactility, sensational, remote, novel edutainment/pet interactive system that will lean towards the radical expansions of the edutainment/pet interactive research and industries. Through the use of infra-red sensors the physical movements of the pets (hamsters in this case) are detected by system. This is translated according to the movements of a pet avatar in the virtual game world. The control of the pet owner on the other hand moves a human avatar within the virtual game world which is translated to actual movement of bait chased by the pets in the physical world. The game play is thus ensured with the pet hamsters chasing after the bait controlled by the pet owner in the real world while being depicted in the virtual game world as the pet avatar chasing after the human avatar. By engaging and improving interactions between owners and their pets, the owners' spaces are merged with their pets' spaces via pervasive computing interfaces. Thereby it adds both interactivity and entertainment between pets and owners with wholesome edutainment for the whole family and owner-pet bonding for pet lovers1.