1. Using Kinect for educational purposes
Spellotron
Using Kinect for educational purposes
Austin Keener
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Rahman Tashakkori
Department of Computer Science
Appalachian State University

2. Goal of the Project http://cs.appstate.edu/~rt/kinect/
Create an interactive and fun environment to help children learn to spell
Promote exercise in the classroom
Start creative process to promote problem solving
Introduces applications of computer science to children

3. Spellotron is a learning game
Players spell out the words on the screen by making poses that match the letters of the English alphabet used in the word
Players are given visual clues on how to complete the word
Score is given based on how quickly the player is able to spell the word

4. How Spellotron works http://cs.appstate.edu/~rt/kinect/
User selects difficulty level based on desired grade level
A word is displayed on the screen for users to spell
Individual letters are shown representing the current letter in the word
Kinect tracks the player’s pose and determines the correlation of the pose to the current letter
The game will display the highest correlated pose as the match to the letter
Player learns the spelling of the words while performing physical activity

5. Modification for Color Blind
Originally the program indicated closeness of the pose of the player to the correct pose by changing colors in-between green and red.
Proved to be problematic to Color blindness
Added a bar that indicated correct pose to supplement correctness feedback

6. Technology behind the game
Kinect sensor to track player
The sensor tracks the player through use of an infrared sensor
Windows Presentation Foundation
WPF is used as the main display system of the program.
Implemented using C#
C# was used for access to the Kinect SDK and ease of use.
Also used for easy integration of other systems like WPF.

7. Program Examples http://cs.appstate.edu/~rt/kinect/ Grade Level Select
Provides options for Pre-School through 8th grade spelling.
Each grade level has it’s own library of words
The text, buttons and pictures displayed in this window are arranged using an xml format understood by WPF.
Each button has an event call when it is pressed, and is handled by the parent C# class.

8. Program Examples http://cs.appstate.edu/~rt/kinect/ Game Play
The elements on the screen are arranged using WPF’s xml format
The time is determined by using the computer’s current time with the one that is stored when the new word is displayed
The visual stream from the Kinect is not handled by WPF’s xml file, but instead is drawn directly on to the window.
The bar is used to show how close the player is to matching the pose. The bar also works much better than just color for color blind players.

9. Acknowledgements Dr. Rahman Tashakkori Jack Jordan Clint Guin
Appalachian State Department of Computer Science
National Science Foundation (NSF)

10. Conclusion and Questions
Austin Keener
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