NOTE: Distance Lab became part of the Glasgow School of Art Innovation School in October 2010. This is a snapshot of the Lab's web site around July 2010 for historical reference.
Florian 'Floyd' Mueller, Matthew Karau, Stefan Agamanolis, Costas Bissas, Cindy Jeffers, Elena Corchero, Richard Wilson, Andrea Taylor, Paula Nichols, Angus Aitken, Tomoko Hayashi, Hilary Grant
Remote Impact is a "Sports over a Distance"
boxing game that enables a full body contact experience between
geographically distant players. Unlike the Nintendo Wii which only
supports hitting thin air, Remote Impact recognises and registers
intense brute force. The physical intensity of the game contributes
to general fitness, weight loss and stress relief at the same time it
allows you to socialise and create new friendships over a distance in
a fun way.
Motivation
Current widespread communication technologies can support generic
messaging and business-oriented tasks, but they do not adequately
facilitate the building of trust between distant persons. On the
other hand, traditional contact sports like football, rugby, and
martial arts are well known for their effectiveness in social bonding
and teambuilding. Remote Impact aims to provide these benefits to
participants who are in different places.
Interface
Remote Impact is an example of an exertion interface that
allows for brute force interaction. A life-sized silhouette of
the remote player is projected on the interface, which resembles a
mattress standing against a wall. This silhouette is captured from
behind, allowing for a close-proximity interaction without camera
obstruction or distortion issues. A novel multi-touch detection
system measures the location and intensity of multiple simultaneous
impacts. Players can talk to each other through a voice connection
between the locations.
Game Play
Players can punch, kick, or throw their entire bodies against their
projected opponent, and the system recognises when there has been a
hit or a miss. Players can dodge hits by ducking or moving out of the
way, just as in real sports. More points are scored by hitting one's
opponent harder. At the end of a specific time interval, the player
with the most points wins.
Uses
Remote Impact could allow friends and family members who live apart
to engage in a full-body exertion exercise experience together in a
playful environment without anybody getting hurt.
Schools could install Remote Impact to allow students to
participate in sports and exercise together with students in other
schools, possibly very far away.
Teambuilding coaches could use Remote Impact to increase the
effectiveness of teams that work across continents.
Event companies or networking organisations could use the
system to break the ice between remote participants and build a sense
of togetherness.
Health club companies with multiple locations could offer
dedicated installations to allow members to work out with their
distributed friends in connected gyms.
Commercialisation
We are now commercialising this concept. We can build custom
installations to suit individual requirements. Contact us for more
information on hiring or purchase opportunities or if you are
interested in supporting the development of products like this.
Awards
Remote Impact was among 11 new titles shortlisted for the European Innovative Games Award 2008. Other titles shortlisted included Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer 2009 and Nintendo's Wii Fit. A total of 77 games were nominated for the award from throughout the European Union.
Publications
Florian Mueller, Stefan Agamanolis, Martin Gibbs, and Frank
Vetere, Remote Impact - Shadowboxing over a Distance (video), CHI
2009 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
Florence, Italy, 5 - 10 April 2008, ACM Digital Library. (PDF)
Florian Mueller, Stefan Agamanolis, Frank Vetere, and Martin
Gibbs, Remote Impact - Shadowboxing over a Distance (poster),
SIGGRAPH 2008 International Conference on Computer Graphics and
Interactive Techniques, Los Angeles, 11 - 15 August 2008, ACM
Digital Library. (PDF)
Florian Mueller and Stefan Agamanolis, Remote Impact:
Shadowboxing over a distance to support Social Presence, Keho:
the place for Presence research, issue 3, Spring 2008, pp. 19 -
21. (PDF)
Florian Mueller, Stefan Agamanolis, Martin Gibbs, and Frank
Vetere, Remote Impact - Shadowboxing over a Distance, CHI
2008 Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems,
Florence, Italy, 5 - 10 April 2008, ACM Digital Library. (PDF)
Florian Mueller, Stefan Agamanolis, Frank Vetere, and Martin
Gibbs, Brute Force as Input for Networked Gaming,
Proceedings of OzCHI 2007 Australasian Computer-Human Interaction
Conference, Adelaide, Australia, 28 - 30 November 2007, ACM
Digital Library. (PDF)
