Circle

The strength of collaborative games is that they distribute activities between players, and encourage them to work together to achieve a common goal. They promote social interaction, cognitive development, and can even improve the quality of personal relationships. All of these benefits transfer directly to children with and without disabilities, and has the potential for impact that goes beyond the child and extends into the community. 

Our team of researchers at The Ohio State University has created a new platform – Circle – to help normalize the experience of play between differently-abled people as multi-player, collaborative experiences. Circle is comprised of three primary components: sensors, wearables, and the games themselves.

Sensors

Different from traditional capacitive-touch tools that depend on direct contact with the sensor, our unique method utilizes human-body-communications (HBC) that allows for direct skin-to-skin contact and can distinguish between multiple touch pathways (e.g., right hands touching, left hands touching, all hands touching, etc.). Since HBC uses the biological tissues themselves as a conducting medium to propagate the signal, and because we have full control over the frequencies of communication for different types of touch, we can reliably identify who is touching who and where - and send that data as game input via Bluetooth. With our technology, interactions between players become meaningful physical expressions that stand apart from conventional sensor-driven approaches. As touch can be registered from any part of the body, our platform scales very well across a wide spectrum of abilities and allows for both active and passive participation. 

Wearables

The design of the wearable is a complex effort that bridges our sensor technology with the narrative of Escape to Planet-9, with the goal of facilitating collaborative play. We aimed to mirror the wearables that the “genius girls” fabricated in the story to complete the “remote-control rescue” of their robot friend. This narrative connection helped players see themselves reflected in the game world, strengthening immersion and engagement. Because of this, each chassis is uniquely designed, and no two look the same. At the same time, we carefully considered ergonomic factors and anthropometric dimensions to ensure the wearables were comfortable, safe, and adaptable for different users. Inspired by steampunk and retro-futuristic aesthetics, the chassis was intentionally designed to spark curiosity and evoke a sense of joy, creating something players would like to wear. By combining narrative grounding, technical function, and thoughtful form, the wearable became an engaging part of the overall play experience.

Games

Our sensors allow us to detect 3 discrete states: Pair-A hands touching, Pair-B hands touching, and both Pair-A and Pair-B hands touching at the same time. While 3-inputs feels like a fairly small decision-tree for players, we have designed gameplay that extends our sensors’ capacity to create meaningful and lasting experiences that draw inspiration from one-switch controllers and the golden age of arcade games. This smaller footprint is also more conducive to our demographic that at times can handle smaller cognitive loads. Another key aspect of our games is that they are cooperative, meaning they are multiplayer and require decisions that are shared between the players as they strive towards a common goal. While elements of ‘quarterbacking’ do exist like in many collaborative games, we attempt to design play that is asymmetrical to mitigate this. In Escape to Planet-9, players take on the role of two young astronauts that have hacked into their robot’s navigation system (move-Left, move-Right, reverse gravity) to safely guide them off a spaceship in critical condition and evacuate to the nearby Planet 9.

Check out our Circle games website (includes other games)

Check out the schematics for exhbiting of Escape to Planet-9

Grants:

• Battelle Engineering, Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) Grant $33,794.00 
• Global Arts + Humanities Discovery Theme, Open Grant  $35,000.00 

Patent:

•  Kyoung Lee Swearingen, Scott Swearingen, Susan Thrane, Asimina Kiourti, Title: Systems for Collaborative Interaction Using Wearable Technology, Patent, U. S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), Reference: 10336-518W01, Feb 3, 2022

Publication:

• “Wearable Sensors Based on Force-Sensitive Resistors for Touch-Based Collaborative Digital Gaming.” Sensors, vol. 22, no. 1, Jan. 2022, p.342. https://doi.org/10.3390/s22010342 

Poster Presentation:

•  Fostering Connections for Children with Autism Via Collaborative Digital Gaming, ATIA (Assistive Technology Industry Association) Orlando Florida, January 31, 2025