Playful application with augmented reality in prolonged medical treatments

This article introduces ERA, a mobile application that works as a paratext for a children's book called Kota Corta. It was developed with the aim of accompanying infant patients during prolonged therapeutic treatments. The application uses augmented reality techniques to promote reading and improves interaction with textual stories and static images. For the development of the application, an interdisciplinary work was carried out between students and teachers of the Faculties of Computer Science and Arts, belonging to the National University of La Plata. In this project, books created within the pedagogical and social Arts project were first analyzed. Then Kota Corta was selected as the pilot book on which ERA was designed and implemented, the first prototype app that includes audio, sounds and animations, as well as a kit of didactic games for different levels. Several tools were analyzed for the app development, according to some criteria allowing us to choose the most appropriate among them. ERA was tested with boys and girls in prolonged medical treatments with good results. Finally, the development of the app so far and the results obtained in a first experience are introduced.