New inclusive event with University of Michigan's augmented reality game was held at "FUTUREGYM"

On October 28, a total of 21 high school students from the University of Tsukuba's Special Needs Education School for the Mentally Challenged at Otsuka and 25 second-year students from the University's Sakado High School participated in an exchange and joint learning implementation event. During the event, the students enjoyed an air hockey game developed by the University of Michigan in the United States, using the spatial augmented reality (AR) system called "FUTUREGYM" installed in the gymnasium of the Otsuka Special Needs School.

FUTUREGYM is a large-scale floor-projection AR system that has been under development since 2015 by the FUTUREGYM team, led by Professor SUZUKI Kenji from the Institute of Systems and Information Engineering at the University of Tsukuba. The system aims to support educational activities for children with intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorders by drawing behavioral cues on the floor. For this event, the AR air hockey game technology developed by the University of Michigan's iGYM team, which enables individuals with limited mobility, such as wheelchair users, to participate in athletic activities, was integrated with the system and utilized. Associate Professor Roland Graf from the University of Michigan also participated in this event remotely.

While affiliated schools have previously used FUTUREGYM for the same kind of exchange and joint learning implementation events, this was the first time it was used in conjunction with the University of Michigan's technology. For the students, it was an opportunity to engage in inclusive activities while considering their own movements and characteristics, as well as those of others. This event also marked the first step towards strengthening collaboration among researchers working towards creating such inclusive spaces.

This initiative was partially supported by the JST CREST "Social Imaging" (No. JPMJCR14E2) and JST CREST "Social Signals" (No. JPMJCR19A2) project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency.