Little Garden: An augmented reality game for older adults to promote body movement

Abstract

Physical activity is one of the most effective ways to help older adults stay healthy, but traditional training methods for older adults use single tasks and are boring, often making it difficult for the elderly to achieve good exercise results. In contrast to existing digital games, games based on augmented reality technology have the potential to promote physical activity in the elderly. This paper presents Little Garden, an interactive augmented-reality game designed for older adults. It uses projective augmented reality technology, physical card manipulation, virtual social scenarios to increase user engagement and motor initiation. The pilot data show that the game system promotes physical engagement and provides a good user experience. We believe that augmented reality technology provides a new approach to interface design for age-appropriate user-interface experiences.