Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1980. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 130-136).

Abstract The project "Sound and Play" have been implemented in collaboration with the toy company BRIO in Malmo. The purpose of the project was to examine whether and how BRIO in the future could develop toys around sound for Toddlers. The problem formulations that would be answered after completion of the project was "How could BRIO broaden its product range with the help of audio toys?", "How can you combine toys and sounds in an interesting way for children?", "How do you create a toy with sound that is fun for the child, but not annoying for parents?". Currently BRIO only has two toys with sound in this age group. The expression of the toy was going to be a mix of classic and cool and the overall feeling of the toy was going to be explorative and arouse curiosity in the child. This feeling would be communicated through simplicity and joy. The project began with an extensive research, including a visit to one of the world's largest toy fair in Nürnberg, Germany, and a comprehensive survey of parents' attitude to sound toys. Based on the first sketching phase three concepts where chosen; Module Cars, Beat Box and Record Player. Module Cars was a concept where you could replace parts of the car and in that way get different sounds. Beat Box was a box of three cylindrical blocks which consisted of various surfaces and materials. While they were spinning in the box they would hit different materials and in that way create different sound and rhythms. The construction of the idea meant that over a thousand different sounds and rhythms could be created. Record Player was a similar concept in which the child could change the discs and in that way create different rhythms and sounds. Together with the product development department, I decided to keep working with the Modul Car concept. Within this concept, I chose to work on two different tracks, different fronts and figures. By changing the front of the car it would get a new sound or by changing the driver in the car it would also get a new sound. After several weeks of shaping digital 3D models and many ideas and thoughts later I finally reached a solution that was built as a prototype. The result is a vehicle where the front can be replaced by two other fronts. Depending on which, the system will give you different sounds. This is because each front has a plastic flap placed underneath that hits a piece of plastic stuck to the wheel axle. Nine children play tested the toy and their parents were responding to questions about the outcome. The play tests went well and it turned out to be a suitable toy from one year and up to about five years. The play takes various forms in different ages which is good since this means that the toy may last longer. The response among the parents was also very positive. I am very pleased with the outcome and hope to see it in store shelves one day and also that it becomes played with in homes. / Sammanfattning Projektet "Sound and Play" har genomförts i samarbete med leksaksföretaget BRIO i Malmö. Syftet med projektet var att undersöka hur BRIO i framtiden skulle kunna utveckla leksaker kring ljud i ålderskategorin 12-36 månader. De problemformuleringar som skulle besvaras efter slutfört projekt var "På vilket sätt skulle BRIO kunna bredda sitt sortiment med hjälp av ljudleksaker?", "Hur kan man kombinera leksaker och ljud på ett intressant sätt för barn?", "Hur skapar man en leksak med ljud som är rolig för barnet, men samtidigt inte är irriterande för föräldrar?". BRIO har i dagsläget endast två leksaker med ljud i denna ålderskategori. Leksakens uttryck skulle vara en mix av klassiskt och coolt och den övergripande känslan skulle vara upptäckande samt väcka nyfikenhet. Känslan skulle förmedlas genom enkelhet och glädje. Projektet inleddes med en omfattande research med bland annat ett besök på en av världens största leksaksmässor i Nürnberg, Tyskland samt en omfattande enkätundersökning av föräldrars attityd till ljudleksaker. Utifrån en första idégenereringsfas valdes tre koncept ut; Modul Cars, Beat Box och Record Player. Modul Cars byggde på att man skulle kunna byta ut en del på bilen och på så sätt få olika ljud, t.ex. att man skulle kunna byta hjul eller underrede. Beat Box var en låda med tre cylinderformade klossar i. Dessa bestod av olika ytor och material som i lådan slog emot tre olika material. Konstruktionen av idé innebar att över tusen olika ljud och rytmer skulle kunna skapas. Record Player var ett liknande koncept där barnet skulle kunna byta "skivor" och på så sätt skapa olika rytmer och ljud. Tillsammans med produktutvecklingsavdelningen bestämde jag mig för att arbete vidare med modul cars. Inom detta koncept valde jag att arbeta vidare med två olika spår; olika fronter och gubbar. Antingen skulle man genom att byta fronten på bilen få olika ljud eller att man istället hade en bil med gubbar och där den som var föraren bestämde ljudet. Efter flera veckors caddande och många idéer och tankar senare så hade jag till slut tagit fram ett koncept med tre fordon som jag skulle bygga modell på. Resultatet är ett fordon som är bussliknande och där fronten går att byta ut. Beroende på vilken front man använder så låter leksaken olika. Detta beror på att varje front har en plastflärp undertill som träffar var sin plastbit som sitter fast på hjulaxeln. Modellen lektestades på nio barn och deras föräldrar fick även vara med och svara på frågor kring resultatet. Lektesterna gick bra och det visar sig vara en passande leksak från ett år och upp till cirka fem år. Leken tar sig olika uttryck i de olika åldrarna vilket är positivt då detta gör att leksaken får en längre livslängd. Mottagandet av leksaken bland föräldrarna var också mycket positivt. Jag är mycket nöjd över resultatet och hoppas att den någon dag i framtiden står i butikshyllor runt om i Sverige och även att den blir nött och vällekt med i hemmen.

Games in general and computer games in particular have now become a mainstream activity for young people in the industrialized nations. Sadly, people’s interaction with computer artifacts and games are mainly still limited to the visual and auditive modalities. This constrains the richness of our interaction with those artifacts, it constrains the possibilities of using those artifacts to communicate and build relations with others, and it excludes some people from using them at all. This thesis answers the questions of whether it’s possible to use haptics as a single modality for conveying information in computer games, if it’s possible to translate the standard interfaces of existing computer games into haptic interfaces, and if it can be accomplished with the technology used in the gamepads of current generation game consoles. It also contains a theoretical foundation for using haptics in game design and a new design method for analyzing the requirements of computer game interface modalities. A computer game prototype called Sightlence was developed in order to answer these questions. The prototype was developed in four iterative cycles of design, development, and evaluative play sessions. Four groups of people participated in the play sessions: graduate students, and teachers, specializing in games; people who are deafblind; people from the general population; and pupils from a national special needs school in Sweden for children with deafness or impaired hearing combined with severe learning disabilities, or congenital deafblindness. The prototypes were tested with usability techniques for measuring performance and learnability. The usability tests showed that Sightlence can be successfully learned by people from the general population while the pupils with cognitive development disorders from the special needs school would need additional support in the game in order to learn to handle the increased abstraction caused by the haptic interface. The thesis ends with discussion of the designed and developed artifact Sightlence. The discussion touches on the design process, the usability testing, and possible future research and development relevant for making haptics a fruitful tool and medium for designers and people.