SENSASEA: Fostering Positive Behavioral Manifestations and Social Collaboration in Children Through an Interactive Multimodal Environment

The SensaSea System is a responsive multisensory environment, specifically, a room-sized interactive installation that incorporates wearable devices, interactive visual floor projections and auditory and tactile modalities. SensaSea is designed as a physical environment for embodied interaction and free play suitable for multiple players; the system uses social proximity as the primary mechanism. Our objective is to promote active peer interaction and social connectedness among elementary school children through sensory-guided approaches which include digitized and projected interactive sea creatures. The multi-modal system also features an interactive soundscape and innovative real-time haptic feedback. We conducted eight group user studies (24 children in total). Our usability and feasibility tests demonstrated that the system results in positive emotions and elicits multiple pro-social behaviors.