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RESEARCH PRODUCT

HybridPLAY: A New Technology to Foster Outdoors Physical Activity, Verbal Communication and Teamwork

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This paper presents HybridPLAY, a novel technology composed of a sensor and mobile-based video games that transforms urban playgrounds into game scenarios. With this technology we aim to stimulate physical activity and playful learning by creating an entertaining environment in which users can actively participate and collaborate. HybridPLAY is different from other existing technologies that enhance playgrounds, as it is not integrated in them but can be attached to the different elements of the playgrounds, making its use more ubiquitous (i.e., not restricted to the playgrounds). HybridPLAY was born in 2007 as an artistic concept, and evolved after different phases of research and testing by almost 2000 users around the world (in workshops, artistic events, conferences, etc.). Here, we present the temporal evolution of HybridPLAY with the different versions of the sensors and the video games, and a detailed technical description of the sensors and the way interactions are produced. We also present the outcomes after the evaluation by users at different events and workshops. We believe that HybridPLAY has great potential to contribute to increased physical activity in kids, and also to improve the learning process and monitoring at school centres by letting users create the content of the apps, leading to new narratives and fostering creativity. We would like to thank other researchers and designers who contributed to the development of HybridPLAY, which have been cited through the paper. We would also like to thank all the people that have participated in testing our system.