A sonically enhanced climbing wall with illuminating foot and hand grips. Sensors embedded in the grips and seven audio speakers enable computer-mediated, interactive, musical and physical games.

Enhanced Life
Computer games have become very strong motivators in entertainment and education, and they are finding new applications in fields as diverse as health care and military training. Music is another strong motivator because it can enhance drama, establish a sense of time and place, and inspire and synchronize movement. DigiWall combines these components with a large-scale, highly physical computer interface to create a unique opportunity for physical activity and conditoning.

The DigiWall project has three main goals:

1. To create new potential for increased physical activation and improved physical conditioning through a computer game experience.

2. To build a platform that can be used to test and research the potential for sound-based interaction in large-scale environments.

3. To explore how sound and music can support a narrative in a large, tangible, interactive scenario.

The Sonic Studio at the Interactive Institute has designed a hand and foot grip for DigiWall that allows touch sensors and light to be integrated into the interactive climbing experience. The system also includes a sound-based game engine that integrates sensors and sound-rendering components into a large-scale computer interface.

Shifting the focus from visual displays to interfaces built on sound will free people physically and open up the potential for whole-body movement as a way to interact with computer systems. DigiWall is intended for public spaces and will affect and enhance the environments where it is installed, both visually and sonically.

Mats Liljedahl
The Interactive Institute
mats.liljedahl (at) tii.se

Katarins Delsing
Johan Fagerlönn
Mats Liljedahl
Stefan Lindberg
Interactive Institute

Fugu Sport
Luleå tekniska universitet