Papers
CHI 2006
Conference on Human-Computer Interaction
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
April 22-27 2006
 2978 KB


BodyBeats: Whole-Body, Musical Interfaces for Children

Jamie Zigelbaum, Amon Millner, Bella Desai, Hiroshi Ishii
MIT Media Lab
zig@media.mit.edu, millner@media.mit.edu, desaibe@gse.harvard.edu, ishii@media.mit.edu

ABSTRACT

This work in progress presents the BodyBeats Suite— three prototypes built to explore the interaction between children and computational musical instruments by using sound and music patterns. Our goals in developing the BodyBeats prototypes are (1) to help children engage their whole bodies while interacting with computers, (2) foster collaboration and pattern learning, and (3) provide a playful interaction for creating sound and music. We posit that electronic instruments for children that incorporate whole-body movement can provide active ways for children to play and learn with technology (while challenging a growing rate of childhood obesity). We describe how we implemented our current BodyBeats prototypes and discuss how users interact with them. We then highlight our plans for future work in the fields of whole-body interaction design, education, and music.