Jumpy

JUMPY

2011
ww w.design-engineering.ee

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CONTENTS

1 PRODUCT BACKGROUND 2
1.1 Project aim and objectives 2
1.2 Statistics 2
1.3 Market research 2
1.4 The idea 7
1.5 Giga map 7

2 PRODUCT 10
2.1 Design proposal 10
2.2 Product value 13
2.3 For business 13
2.4 Our product vs. market 13
2.5 User groups 14
2.6 Effects on user groups 14
2.7 Where to use it 14
2.8 Meeting with the professional 15

3 DESIGN AND MATERIALS 15
3.1 Design solutions 15
3.1.1 Technical solution 16
3.1.2 Appearance solution 16
3.2 Size 16
3.3 How it works 17
3.3.1 Sensors 18
3.3.2 LEDs 19
3.3.3 Controller 19
3.3.4 Materials 20
3.3.5 Processing 21
3.4 Transporting 22

4 AFFECTS ON THE USER 23
4.1 How it solves our problem 23
4.2 Effects on the body 23
4.2.1 Positive effects 23
4.3 Personalizing the game 24

5 INTERACTION 24
5.1 Product as a platform 24
5.1.1 Games 24
5.1.2 Scores 25
5.1.3 Leveling up 26
5.1.4 Community 26

6 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT 27
6.1 Problems 27
6.2 What next 27

Egert Uibo Birgit Pulk Mihkel Joost Sao Baolian
EKA EKA TTÜ XPU
product design graphic design Product industral design
Development and
Production
Engineering

Report

This report details a conseptual design project undertaken by Design and Engineering Masters
program students at Tallinn University of Technology.

1 PRODUCT BACKGROUND
1.1 Project aim and objectives
The aim of the conseptual design project was to create a consept of a personal training equipment
considering the needs of the users and offering them the best possible solution taking into account
our teams viewpoints and focuses.

The proposed project seeks to develop a personal training equipment that would be a help for
people struggling with weight loss and searching alternative solutions for training their body.
The outcome of this project is a concept of the equipment that can go beyond current and existing
equipments and is a help to solve the focused problem which is traing the body in a best possible
way.

The main objectives of the proposed project, delivered through a package of people-based activi-
ties and a short-term feasibility study, are as follows:

1. To develop new ideas in personal training equipment.
2. To complement and build on the existing expertise and knowledge in the area of sport and train-
ing a prototype that can be used in the ways necessary for the equipment.
3. To carry out a short-term feasibility study to investigate the current situation at the market and
possible places for improvement.

1.2 Statistics
Nowadays lot of people join gyms. People want to stay healthy and find a way to loose or maintain
weight and also increase metabolism and overall feeling of the body. But the statistics say that
about 67% of people with gym membership don’t use it at all, so they only get the good feeling of
doing sports while they purchase the membership and the actual process of training and visiting
gym is not important anymore. The biggest causes for quitting are mainly bacause gym is boring
and it takes a lot of time to go there (driving there, training, driving back). So people tend to just
waiste their memberships and also the money they bought it with.

But those who still can manage to go to gym, a lot of them, actually 93% of them, quit gym in the
first 90 days. The main reasons are boredom and monotony as mentioned before and also price.
Gym membership costs about average 55 EUR/per month + also a joining fee, which is about 45
EUR and spending that kind of money on something person doesn’t enjoy or use, isn’t very reason-
able and doesn’t offer a person longtime effects on the body.

So our team focused in the project mainly on these three big problems: gym is boring, monoto-
nous and doesn’t offer too much adrenaline and motivation in long term run.

1.3 Market research
Market of the training products can roughly be divided into 4 parts: gym and home training equip-
ment, interactive games, sport and leisure combining games and simulators.

Reasearching the market, we firstly focused on the regular gym equipment. We found that the
equipment is heavy, hard to use, clumsy and need lots of repeated action to get the results. That
makes the training process long, monotonous and not very stimulating.

Secondly we reasearched home training equipment and found its positive and negative sides.
Home use offers the equipment the opportunity to train on it without any previous preparation.

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But the downside in home training is that often home as a comfortable environment doesn’t offer
too much motivational basis for training and so the equipment stays unused and is just a burden
at home.

Some examples of different kind of gym equipment

Some examples of home training equipment

After thorough research on gym and home gym equipment and relying on the statistics, our team
also found that gym equpiment is clumsy, hard to understand and too monotonous. So our project
focus was put on the more playful and fun exercising equipment.

Fun training equipment

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Fun training equipment

The second category was interactive games that offer the player a lot of adrenaline, but training at
te same time. The games have mostly been focused on children, but they offer good quality train-
ing for adults as well.

Interactive games

Third big category is sport and leisure combining games which offer a good entertainment, yet
train body and keep the user occupied for several hours. Some of the games are also good team
building games.

Sport and leisure combining games

And the final category that would meet our criterias of sporting equipment were simulators. They
simulate some kind of sport activity, yet the training can take place anywhere and doesn’t need the
concrete tools or environment as the real sport does. But the outcomes of the simulator training is
a lot like real training, so the effect is quite the same.

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Different kind of simulators for sport

To sum up, there are a lot of different kind of equipment on the market that differ from the regular
gym equipment and offer the user a lot more fun in the training process. This is a big motivator for
the user, beacuse it helps to keep the training process not turning into monotonous workout. And
if the user isn’t very motivated to do sports, then different interactive games or simulators all offer
a great deal of extra and upredictable action in the training process.

So the one connecting keyword that would describe all of those fun and at the same time good
training equipments is randomness. Randomness in sport and games can be created in a lot
of different ways: for example by changing the shape of the product during the process, using
mechanisms that offer random patterns of actions to the user, by distraction, environment, lack of
knowledge and also by adding a oponent, who creates the randomness by its own actions that
are not known to the other party.

The team games also offer a great deal of randomness in the game and can give different results
and endscore is usually never known and estimated, because the opponents actions are not pre-
dicted.

Motivation scheme

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Team sports

Team sports are actually of the biggest randomness creators, because through training togther,
opponents both have the desire to win so that creates the necessary motivation for playing some
more. It also has a social aspect in it that includes finding a partner for the game, communicationg
through game, passing time and bonding. Through team sports comes also a responsibility to at-
tend training all the time because teammates can’t let each other down.

Team sport effectiveness can be explained also by dopamine effect

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is naturally produced in the body. It is present in the regions
of the brain that regulate movement, emotion, motivation and the feeling of pleasure. Dopamine
stabilizes the brain activity, regulated flow of information to other parts of the brain and controls
movement. It plays a major part in addiction. Since Dopamine is a chemical messenger, it is similar
to adrenaline. It activates the dopamine receptors.

When Dopamine supplies as a drug, it acts on the sympathetic nervous system. This produces ef-
fects such as blood pressure growth, and increased heart rate. Dopamine is connected with the
pleasure system of the brain. This means that is provides feelings of enjoyment and reinforcement
which motivates us to do or to continue doing certain activities. It is also released when a pleasur-
able activity is expected to happen. This tells us that the activity does not even have to actually
take place for dopamine to be released. Therefore, it could be more involved in “desire” rather than
“pleasure”.

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1.4 The idea
The idea of the project as based on the statistics and thorough research is to make a concept for
a personal training equipment that offers randomness, can be played by several people and is also
fun and training at the same time.

1.5 Giga map
Giga map of the research was also made during the beginning of the project process. It included
the most important points of the process to that point and also some new conclusions and view-
points to the topic.

Our team learned in the process to map all of the activities and write them down. A lot of smaller
mini-maps were made during the giga-mapping and they led to the discovery of the direction the
project should move on to and also some previously missing viewpoints, such as the real meaning
of randomness in training and the most important Potential points and Innovation point of the
project.

The missing parts in this stage of the prohect were the concrete user groups and concreete idea of
the product. The project had a direction to balance and muscle training through random and team
activities but not yet a concrete outcome or and idea how to apply these keywords to a product
was not formed.

The giga map is added in between the project report.

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2 PRODUCT
2.1 Design proposal

Our team proposed an idea of an interactive mattress, where people can balance on and which is
mostly a platform for different games. It consists of squares where people can jump on during the
game. The colors on the mattress change according to the game.

Inspiration

First version of the product was just a regular flat mattress. But the problem was that people could
only jump on it and the flat surface didn’t need very much balance and work to be stayed on.

First version of the mattress

The second version was an improvement of the first one: an airfilled mattress, where all the squares
would be independant chambers and if one opponent jumped on one square, a random square
would appear in other players area. This ideas downside was that the structure of the mattress
tended to be too hard and people might have injured themselves while playing on the mattress.

Sidewiev of the mattress with chambers

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Also it hadn’t been decided how big the mattress should be, so our team proposed an idea of two
sectioned mattress. It was a good way to offer also a possibility for people to train also alone. But
the complexity of the pressure sensors and the overall structure and system of the mattress was a
big downside.

Two-sectioned mattress and solo training

We also offered a bluetooth version of the two-sectioned mattress, but it was also as complex as
the version before, so we moved on.

Two-sectioned mattress without the connection

In the very end of the project a one piece mattress was again proposed. But this time its dimensions
were bigger, so that two opponents could not et to each other so quickly and moving on the mat-
tress would be a great workout. Seperate air-filled spaces, but the construction is also too complex.

One-pieced mattress

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The final solution brought the mattress back to its origins, only that its top is preformed and as the
person jumps, the air moves in the mattress, the squares are not separate, but joined by air canals.

Last version of the mattress

Similar products

Test area and test subjects

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Tests

The product is called Jumpy, which represents fun, speed and playfulness.

2.2 Product value
Jumpy offers its users three kind of different values for a good and satisfactory using process.

Jumpy is training and having fun at the same time. It combines sport and also game which makes
the product a good alternative for gym equipment and therefore is good for people who seek
training opportunites and want to improve also secondary qualities of their body in addition to
muscle training. These qualities include speed and coordination improvement through game.

Jumpy is also very good for developing team playing skills and good motivational tool for people
who don’t like sporting alone. As team playing sports are self-motivating, they are a good way of
socializing and communicating with people through a game.

The maintanance costs are also low beacuse it doesn’t have to be done by a specialist from the
producing company, but it can be repaired and maintained by almost anyone.

2.3 For business
There are several selling points of Jumpy for the businesses.

It is the only game and sport combining equipment that is mainly a platform and offers a great deal
of opportunities for different kind of games.

The other very good selling point is the community opportunity our product offers, because since
it is a platform, people can develop and sell or share their games via Internet and download them
to their Jumpy. This connects together people around the world. And also gives the opportunity to
choose from wide range of different kind of games for persons own abilities (speed games, think-
ing games etc).

2.4 Our product vs. market

Positive sides compared to the market Negative sides compared to the market

Weight Size

Interaction (games) Place where to use it

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Flexibility (lots of possibilities)

Easy to use

Sport + fun

Maintenance

Team playing skills

Randomness factor (team + games)

Durable

2.5 User groups
The main users our team firstly focused our were bored gym user, overweight persons and com-
puter games addicts. These were the three main groups that needed the most motivation in their
training to the information based on the research and statistics.

Bored gym user, overweight person and computer games addict

During the work process we discovered our final main user groups: children and teenagers. That
doesn’t mean the product isn’t meant for older people, but the main focus is on young people.

2.6 Effects on user groups
Jumpy offers a great deal of fun and also opportunity to train the body. This meets the users most
important needs to have a good time while doing something active and at the same time burning
calories and training the whole body.

It is also very good opportunity for parents to spend time together with children and also school-
mates can communicate woth their friends for example.

2.7 Where to use it
The product was firstly made mostly for home use, but developing the product and changing the
size of it, Jumpy fits more to larger areas and places where a lot of people could use it. Here are
some examples of the places:
1. school
2. kindergarten
3. amusementpark
4. childrens areas in supermarkets
5. etc

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But its function and usability also lets to use it in more unconventional places such as retirement
homes, gyms etc.

2.8 Meeting with the professional
Since the topic for the project was jumping and balancing, we contacted Skypark, the only tram-
poline center in Estonia. Our team met one of the trainers there, Eero Joon, who taught the basics
of jumping, the rules and also talked us about what muscle groups jumping improves and why it is
good to our body.

The most important facts for our project as well were:
1. Average about 1000 kcal burned in one training in one hour.
2. Biggest problem in jumping: ankle injuries.
3. During the jump you have to keep your back straight and chest forward, have to keep all the
mucles tense.
4. Different exercises for abs, shoulders (the biggest training), arms.
5. Jumping is not suitable for pregnant women and very overweight people.

Trainer Eero Joon at Skypark and jumping

3. DESIGN AND MATERIALS
3.1 Design solutions

The development of design solutions are combined from two main parts. One part is the technical
solution and another part is the appearance solution.

Picture of the product

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Picture of the product

3.1.1 Technical solution
Technical solution include technical principle and mechanical structure, the first one explains how
Jumpy works and the second one shows the realization of the solution.

For technical principle, firstly, air movement which is the main idea of Jumpy equipment and it
helps to realize the action of jumping and pressure transmission. It is caused by player’s continuous
jumping so that air moves between different neighbored chambers. Secondly, LED lights represent
different situations, which is the base of man-machine interface system. Thirdly, there are pressure
sensors which determine the position of players; controllers which control the LED lights are also
important for the working of Jumpy equipment.

For mechanical structure, there are two main layers of components inside Jumpy equipment. Top
layer is chambers, in which different parts are laid in proper order, from thermoplastic elastomer,
LED lights, sensors to controllers. Base layer is rubber foam with air channels, in which inlaid circuit
system, battery charger and other electricity is placed.

3.1.2 Appearance solution
Appearance solution is based on the technical solution and functional requirements of the equip-
ment. Jumpy has a square shape with round corners, which makes it comfortable and close to per-
son. Square is a common form which been used in indoor facility design. It is easy to make Jumpy
equipment to set in different areas and be harmonious with others. In addition, square is better
than other shape in connecting with each other. The round top surface of each chamber is caused
by deformation of thermoplastic from air movement, which helps to practice the balance control
of player.

3.2 Size
Jumpy should be in a fit size for setting in common size room, additional, the area should be big
enough to make players do enough exercise.
70

3500

Dimensions of the product

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2100
3500

Dimensions of the product

Currently, Jumpy is 3500 millimeters long, 2100 millimeters wide and 70 millimeters high. The area
size is as the sum of size of 60 chambers, which is proper for players to jump and run. These 60 cham-
bers are laid as 10 vertical lines and 6 horizontal lines. Each chamber has an area in 350x350(mm),
which calculated as average length of normal adult’s feet.

3.3 How it works
Jumpy is an interactive jumping mattress, which consists of 60 35mm x 35 mm pillows. The pillows
are situated in 6 rows, with 10 pillows in each row.

Jumpy layout

The mattress is made out of two sheets of „rubber“, which are welded together in a specific pattern.
By welding the two sheets together specific rooms or „pillows“ are formed. The intersection points
of the inner walls of the pillows are not welded together. From the intersection 10mm the walls are
not welded. This creates the passage in which air can pass from one pillow to another.

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Welding pattern

When a person jumps on one pillow the air starts to go to the pillows next to it through the
passage. The connection with nearby pillows has several purposes. For one thing, it adds more
complexity to the platform, because a player cannot stand on one pillow for too long, because
otherwise it gets flat.

Secondly the connection between the pillows eases the process of inflating the mattress. As there
are 60 pillows, inflating them one-by-one would be very tedious. Furthermore each pillow should
in that case have its own valve for inflation. So the connection between the pillows allows us to use
one valve for inflation.

3.3.1 Sensors
To determine the player’s position we need to use some kind of sensors. The choice came down to
two kinds of sensors: the proximity sensor and a pressure sensor.

We decided to choose the pressure sensor because it would be more easily mounted on the bot-
tom part of each pillow which is removable. For proximity sensors we also would have needed to
put one side of the sensor on the rubber, which moves up & down.

We decided to choose PSF102-7651-710 pressure switch, for its low cost and the appropriate work-
ing range.

Pressure switch PSF102 part of the mattress

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Pressure switch

3.3.2 LEDs
In the bottom of each pillow are LED lights which can light up according to the game program run-
ning. We decided to use RGB LEDs for the purpose of using multiple colors, which enable multiuser
games to be programmed.

We chose LS5150RGB LED’s because they are cheap and durable and the power supply needed is
concurrent with the outputs of the Arduino board we are planning to use.

LS5150RGN LED lights and LED sensor in the mattress

3.3.3 Controller
One main aspect of the product is that it is a platform. The players themselves can create games.
For this reason we need to use a controller which is easily programmable and commonly used. We
decided to use Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller.

Arduino Mega 2560 microcontroller

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The Arduino Mega 2560 is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega2560 . It has 54 digital
input/output pins, 16 analog inputs, 4 UARTs (hardware serial ports), a 16 MHz crystal oscillator, a
USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header, and a reset button.

Arduino can sense the environment by receiving input from a variety of sensors and can affect its
surroundings by controlling lights, motors, and other actuators. The microcontroller on the board
is programmed using the Arduino programming language (based on Wiring) and the Arduino de-
velopment environment (based on Processing). Arduino projects can be stand-alone or they can
communicate with software running on a computer (e.g. Flash, Processing, MaxMSP).

The Arduino Mega can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply. The
power source is selected automatically. USB current is allocated in units of 100 mA up to a maxi-
mum total of 500 mA per port. As our product has 60 40 mA LED, which may need to be lid up
at the same time, the power supply from the USB port is insufficient. This means we have to use a
power adapter. Arduino Mega 2560 requires a 9 to 12V DC, 250mA or more, 2.1mm plug, centre
pin positive power adapter. For our product we need an adapter with at least 2,5 A for the hypo-
thetical situation when all the LEDs are lid up. These power adapters are easily found. For example
we can use the MW2006GS universal power adapter.

3.3.4 Materials
The biggest question considering the materials of the product, was the material of the top level of
the mattress. The product requires that the upper part of mattress is durable, flexible and transpar-
ent. Also it should be as cheap as possible. We decided to look into thermoplastic elastomers as a
potential materials group to find the exact material.

Thermoplastic elastomers (TPEs) combine the good processing properties of plastics with the elas-
tomer properties that are so important for product developers and designers. The use of TPEs of-
fers a number of key advantages:

- Easy thermoplastic processing
- Short cycle times
- Low energy consumption
- Thermal stability, providing large processing window
- Multi-component processing and thus reduced assembly costs
- Combination of two materials (hard-soft composite)
- 100% recyclable
- Versatile dying options, including colour effects for more advanced design

For the mattress we need some material with yield strenght between 5 to 10ksi. When it is softer,
people will not more “float”. When the stiffness is higher, the mattress will be too hard. So the Ma-
terials between Polyvinylchloride and Polycarbonate is in this case interesting.

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Yield strength of termoplastic elastomers

Through analysis we came to the conclusion that Polyvinylchloride (PVC) would be the most suit-
able thermoplastic elastomer for our product. This is the material with best combination out of
price, usable temperature, recyclability, yield strength and long time strain. The material is also
visible.

3.3.5 Processing
As the most suitable process of joining the upper and lower layer of PVC we saw hot gas welding.
The process is designed to join thermoplastic materials in an airtight manner. The process is similar
to the gas welding of metals. The weld torch is just a souped-up hairdryer that directs a stream
of hot gas, at scalp-searing temperatures (200-300 °C) at the joint area and at a rod of the same
thermoplastic as the substrate. Polymers are very viscous when heated, so they do not flow in the
way that metals do - that is why filler material is needed; the filler is pressed into the softened joint
to form the bond.

The equipment cost and set up time are both low, making this an economic process that can be
performed on site. The biggest drawback of hot gas welding is that the process is slow, and thus
not suitable for mass production.

Lower part of the mattress is also made of PVC, it is as one big whole.

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The base

The part is 20 mm thick, with a 60 mm hole positioned in such a way that the holes are centered in
each pillows center. The base for each pillow can be looked at as a separate part. Inside each hole
a sleeve is mounted and fixed in an airtight manner. Inside the sleeve a threaded part is inserted
which contains the LED and the pressure sensor. These are the parts that have the potential of
breaking or wearing off. They are positioned in the module because they can be easily changed if
necessary.

3.4 Transporting

Transporting the mattress and maintaining it

Transporting is showed as the logistic flow chart which is a process:
– Persons book and purchase a product online.
– Company provides delivery service.
– The original product from warehouse is rolled up without air filling.
– Mattress is rolled open and filled with air by pumping.
– Jumpy is ready for using.

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– The mattress can be flattened by vacuum machine and be rolled up again to store.
– Company support maintenance on-site service if there is any problem. The maintenance can also
be done by anyone else with previous experience.

4 AFFECTS ON THE USER
4.1 How it solves our problem
The most important problem what we want to solve is creating an addiction, which can be reflected
as fun of physical practice, interaction of physical practice, body training and attractiveness of
physical practice.

Firstly, we faced problems as below: how to get fun and randomness from physical practice? How
is it different from other boring practices? So, our product should consist of games not only an
equipment for practice. Different preinstalled games and editable games increase interests of using
the equipment.

Secondly, what we focus on is not only muscle practice but also coordination, body balancing, brain
reaction and speed. While jumping on this mattress when playing games, players have to mobilize
brain, legs and arms to control their bodies. It is a real overall physical improvement practice.

Thirdly, we need equipment which is attractive and amazing. So, we need randomness and chal-
lenge. Before stepping on the mattress players do not know what will happen. Actually, players
never know what will happen next. If you want to get the answer, the only way is jumping and
jumping. Sometimes people need to win others to get the feel of satisfaction. The games on Jumpy
can be competition for two or more persons. Different levels and increasing scores always make
players want to use the product more.

All above lead to a result which is practice addiction.

4.2 Effects on the body

+ +
body overall

posture metabolislm
abs coordination
side muscles speed
buttocks balance
thighs stamina
legs weight loss

Effects on the body

4.2.1 Positive effects
Jumping games are a real overall physical improvement. Therefore, the positive effects on the body
can be divided into two parts: physical effects and emotional effects.

Players can exercise most muscles of their bodies by playing Jumpy games. Even side muscles get
trained which are easy to be ignored in common practice. Besides muscle practice, there are many

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other positive effects as below:
– Players can get better balance by the action of jumping and controlling their body.
– Jumping is an aerobic workout which helps to increase metabolism by sweating.
– Players can also improve their coordination by controlling feet, body and even brain at the same
time.
– After more practice, players will find themselves to be better at fast speed moving and have bet-
ter reaction.
– Jumping is one of the best practices for losing weight. Weight loss is about 1000 kcal/h.
– Jumping exercises grow stamina.
– Because of the advantages of aerobic practice, jumping is also a good cardiovascular workout.

After exercise for a period of time, players brain produces dopamine which is a kind of doping.
Dopamine can make people feel good and motivated. It is very good for people who are depressed
and lazy. In addition, Jumpy games are social for players, which help promoting communication
between them.

4.3 Personalizing the game

Change mattress Change games

pressure game type

speed

How big is the pressure? how fast is the speed? what are the rules? All of these questions depend
on individuals. There is an example; too big pressure in the mattress and too fast speed are difficult
to follow for overweight players. In order to get a satisfied result which is also safe, these players
can choose relatively smaller pressure and lower speed at the beginning and make more practice
to get to higher level. So, game rules should not be strict for overweight players and beginners.

To sum up, different game characters provide different choices for different players to get satisfied
results to play safely.

5 INTERACTION
5.1 Product as a platform
Jumpy is a platform that includes a variety of games, score system, leveling up rules and also com-
munity characters.

5.1.1 Games
Jumpy comes with some preinstalled games, but there is a possibility for downloading games.
And there are 3 different types of games for different usergroups: thinking games, acting fast
games and both thinking and acting fast games.

Firstly, thinking games have relatively slower speed and focus on reaction practice. It is especially
for elder people and very young children and someone who has an interest in thinking games. The
new game could be a combination of some popular games, for instance, chess, reversi and so on.
These games are familiar for most players, so they are easy for them to play but Jumpy brings more
surprise in the game than the original game does.

Secondly, acting fast games are especially for young people and enthusiasts who have much in-
terest in games and exercises. Players have to move fast to get a good score. Therefore, in these
games, players must have a strong physique and good overall physical condition. They want to get
more practice and better skills; furthermore, what they really want to do is challenging themselves.
There are also popular traditional games can be played on Jumpy, which are tag, red and green
lights and so on.

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Thinking + acting fast games combine characters of thinking games and acting fast games. These
games combine difficulty and fun, which is more attractive for players. There are examples of fa-
miliar games which is a real think and acting fast game. Hopscotch is a traditional children game. If
we play it on Jumpy mattress, it must be a very special experience.

One game example

5.1.2 Scores

4:2
Scores

Score is one of the most important element in each game. Jumpy games are no exception. How
to get a score? It depends on different games, but we have same rules for all games, which is the
feedback given by sensors. More positive feedback is given if the scores gets bigger. On contrary,
more negative feedback is given if the player fails. In some situations, a big mistake can cause a big
score loss.

The approach of score display is shown by the flash of LED lights and voice of warning. Each flash of
different LED colors represent one positive feedback or one negative feedback, which also means
one score that players have. During playing time, there are voices of warning appear to notice what
situations they are in. At the end of each section there is a signal to the winner where the whole
playing area is colored to the winners colors.

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Winner

5.1.3 Leveling up
Each Jumpy game has a character of leveling up what is the critical element to create addiction
for players. Basically, there are four levels for players: beginner, elementary, intermediate and ad-
vanced.

There are several stages in each level. In single game, player has to get enough scores in each stage
to go ahead to the next advanced stage; after covering all stages in one level, player has an op-
portunity to go to next level and continue the game. In challenging game and while playing with
multiple opponents, the winner in each section has opportunity to continue playing and the final
winner of each level can be continuing on next level and the losers will go out from the each level.

5.1.4 Community
What Jumpy established is not only game equipment but even a community, where enthusiasts
can create new games and share them to others on the Internet. Games could be traditional and
familiar for players, also could be totally new and never heard of. You can create any game you
like. Perhaps there would be a big surprise that your new game is on the top 10 download game
list? Communications also include forum and blog. How to improve skills? How to design amazing
games? What is the best game for weight loss? We can share whatever we like about this crazy
product.

Game download Game making Game sharing

Community

28

6 FURTHER DEVELOPMENT
6.1 Problems

It was a pleasant process of doing this project and a solution we showed, was a concept. The prob-
lems we still have are more related to the interaction and games.

There are some mechanics related problems also such as air movement.
– How fast the air goes from one chamber to nearby chamber?
– How big pressure is proper for air movement?
– How many channels are necessary for air movement?

Some problems are related to specification and components.
– What is the power supply approach?
– How to design the man-machine interface?

Another problem is related to the competitiveness in the market.
– What is the price of the product?
– How about the acceptance for customers?
– What is the proper weight of this product?

Besides the problems described above, some problems about games are critical for development
of the solution.
– What are complete game rules in game writing and playing?
– How to design the leveling up system?

6.2 What next
Jumpy is an idea to solve problems what people have in physical practice. It is special enough to
attract customers and product companies in current market. If there is an opportunity to introduce
to market and get feedback to verify this idea, it will be the best way to continue the development.
At least, listening customers’ voice is necessary for a complete design, so user testing is very neces-
sary part of the continuous working process.

29

2011
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Jumpy

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