Hand gesture-based gaming with kinect sensor

• Main Author: Chuah, Franklin Shang Yu.
• Other Authors: Ma Kai Kuang
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Electrical and electronic engineering::Computer hardware, software and systems
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/54252
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The rates of obesity are increasing over the years, and childhood obesity is becoming a serious problem in many countries. This is due to a combination of poor dietary and physical habits. Being overweight or obese causes many health problems, such as heart disease and stroke, diabetes, and musculoskeletal disorders. Though governments and health organizations are promoting a healthier lifestyle through proper diet and exercise, it only appears to be marginally effective. Motion sensing technologies for gaming is a direction that could be explored to encourage more people to be physically active. In this project, a hand gesture-based game was developed to attract and encourage children ages five and above to be more physically active. This was to be accomplished with the usage of a Microsoft Kinect sensor to detect and recognize the child's gestures. Rock-Paper-Scissors was chosen, as it was simple and familiar to all children. Each round would be triggered by the child jumping, and such repetitive jumping would provide the necessary health benefits and child's daily requirements for physical activity. It is believed that interactive games would gain popularity in the future when motion sensing technologies progress further and become more common in typical households, which would help contribute in reducing the overweight and obesity rates in society. Thus, the potential of such games should be further explored to be targeted not only at children but also for adults to encourage families to keep fit together.