Udine University researchers linked an accelerometer to video games in an effort to motivate users to exercise. They created two copycat game designs—resembling Breakout and Defender—and tied them to systems that require “exercise”—side-to-side movement in one and deep knee bends for another—to move objects around on the screen.

Both games rely on a heart rate monitor (with an integrated 3D accelerometer) and a pulse oximeter (measuring blood oxygen levels) to monitor user condition.

To view a demonstration video on the use of the Breakout system, use the following link: http://hcilab.uniud.it/demos-videos/item13.html. A paper on this project may be found at: http://hcilab.uniud.it/publications/2006-07.html.