Human Pacman:

A Mobile Entertainment System with Ubiquitous Computing and Tangible Interaction

Adrian David Cheok, et al. (2003)

This article describes an extraordinary project done by a group of computer science students at the National University of Singapore. Human Pacman is the name of this project that attempts to create an interactive role-playing game. The idea is to create a totally new gaming experience by using an interface based in tangible computing. In this game the players will be provided with different tools such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) in combination with the physical interactivity among the players and using the real world as their playground.

The players must wear different computerized systems such as head mounted displays (HMD) and a backpack carrying a portable computer,and a GPS receiver, among many other electric sensors. The users can interact with one another physically when they are close enough to each other and via VR or AR when they are further away.

The game consists on the Pacman players having to "eat" special cookies along the way. They also have to find another ingredients such as sugar and flour depending on their previously established goals. The human Pacmans must be careful not to be "devoured" by the human Ghosts that go about the playground. The gameplay takes place with a combination of virtual and real elements. For example, the cookies that the human Pacmans must eat are visible to the user through the HMD as a virtual image. But there also are some physical elements that can be taken by the players. These physical objects carry bluetooth-based sensors so that the system can detect when one of the players have grabbed one of these elements. Both Pacmans and Ghosts have permanent contact with other players that are called "helpers". These players are not walking about the playground, instead they are sitting in a room using a personal computer. The mission of the helpers is to provide information on the exact position of the other players in order to help them plan and coordinate their moves. 

The physical interaction among players is also important. For example, the ghosts can "devour" a Pacman by just taping them on the shoulder. The shoulder of the players have special sensors that detect when they have been touched. 

The project of the human Pacman game is an amazing example of tangible computing where the users can play with their bodies, using their legs for walking about a certain area in the real world and using their hands for taping other users in order to devour them, rather than by only using a keyboard and a computer monitor. And yet this players are indeed interacting with a computer system. At the same time they interact with physical objects in the real world as well as interacting with each other both in a virtual and physical form allowing them to collaborate and coordinate actions in a much more effective way.