Augmented dodgeball: an approach to designing augmented sports

Ubiquitous computing offers enhanced interactive, human-centric experiences including sporting and fitness-based applications. To enhance this experience further, we consider augmenting dodgeball by adding digital elements to a traditional ball game. To achieve this, an understanding of the game mechanics with participating movable bodies, is required. This paper discusses the design process of a ball--player-centric interface that uses live data acquisition during gameplay for augmented dodgeball, which is presented as an application of augmented sports. Initial prototype testing shows that player detection can be achieved using a low-energy wireless sensor based network such as that used with fitness sensors, and a ball with an embedded sensor together with proximity tagging.