KauKo:ClickBounce

AI gamification of Youth Exercise Activation

LLM
Helsinki
Jetson
Author

Hiroshi Doyu

Published

January 13, 2025

🚀 Introducing KauKo:ClickBounce

AI-Powered Interactive Playgrounds

NinjaLABO is revolutionizing outdoor play with KauKo:ClickBounce, transforming playgrounds into immersive gaming arenas using AI. By projecting games onto walls or surfaces and tracking children’s movements with AI cameras, physical actions like throwing a ball become interactive game controls. This fusion of physical activity and digital gaming aims to make exercise more engaging, especially for children who might not be drawn to traditional sports.

The system is designed to be cost-effective, utilizing readily available equipment like projectors and cameras. NinjaLABO is actively seeking collaborations with cities and educational institutions to pilot this innovative approach, with plans to involve around 200 children before the summer vacation. The project also envisions partnerships with game developers to bring popular titles into the physical realm, enhancing the appeal and educational value of outdoor play.

Recorded Pitch

What if playgrounds were as exciting as video games?

NinjaLABO transforms playgrounds into AI gaming spaces, making outdoor play as fun as video games.

Problem:

  1. Not all kids love ice hockey and equipments are expensive.
  2. OTOH, every kid likes to play digital games together.
  3. It’s expensive to build a playground, and it’s rarely updated.
  4. Immigrant child tends to be isolated because of language barriers. We are bringing the fun of digital games into the physical world, and making outdoor play as fun as video games.

We turn outdoor spaces into interactive gaming environments, by using a projector and AI camera.

This is inspired by the “clear cycle road sign on snow” in Oulu, on the right bottom picture. It’s seen so clearly.

How KauKo works: 1. A game screen is projected onto playground surfaces or walls. 2. Kids movements are tracked by AI camera and turning their action into game controller. 3. Imagine a giant digital “Snake game” on the playground—kids run, dodge, and chase items, all controlled by their movements!

Our PoC, starting with the simple setup:

  1. Projector
  2. Camera
  3. Laptop

A kid throws a ball at a wall, and our AI detects the impact—turning a simple throw into a game controller input, a mouse click.

This mouse clicking controls a game on a PC, while kids are always running to catch a ball and throw a ball back.

Kids can even play Quizlet game to learn Finnish language by throwing a ball repeatedly.

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Here’s RISK: High-end projectors may work even in daylight, but it costs more than 10,000 EURO!

But it’s OK. we could survive with the low-end projector. In Finland, we don’t see the sunshine, except today.

Here’s ASK: 1. The biggest risk is expensive high-lumen projectors. We’d like to talk with City of Oulu & LUX Helsinki, how they solved this issue. Once this is solved, 2. We need a pilot location with a large, light-colored wall. 3. Weekly meetings with teachers, to plan and execute the pilot, focusing on use cases, games, and apps. 4. For actual piloting, we want ~200 kids from ~3 parties, scheduled before summer vacation starts. This piloting is co-managed by “CoreOrient”. 5. Also we are looking for the collaboration with Supercell and Rovio.

This project has the potential to turn every playground on Earth into a smart gaming, big business potential!

By collaborating with game companies, we can bring famous game titles into real-world play.

Kids can even learn programming by designing their own games!

Teachers could use this for educational purpose, turning Quizlet into physical games.

NinjaLABO is just a small AI research labo.

And for the project execution & operation, we partner with CoreOrient, Harri Paloheimo.

Although the biggest risk is still expensive projector, NinjaLABO is shaping the future playground by combining the virtual and physical world together with the power of AI.

Thanks!