Jedi Trainer

In Jedi Trainer a drone is flying around a Jedi knight trainee aiming at training its ability in using the light saber, as in the first episode of the Star wars saga with Luke Skywalker.

By analyzing the image from the onboard camera, the drone maintains the distance from the player, keeping it always in the image, and moving slightly left and right as to look for the best position to shot. When appropriate, it makes a sound with its propeller, simulating a laser shot, and the player has to parry it by putting the light saber in front of her/his chest.

The drone is intrinsically adapting to the style of movement of the player: a more active player will have to face a more active trainer.

Robotower

Robotower is a game where an omnidirectional robot and a human player confront in a playground 4×4 m, having four towers on the corners. Aim of the robot is to knock down the towers. Aim of the human player is to defend the towers for at least 3′ by intercepting the robot’s path. The human player can also push a button on the tower, this will lit a LED every 2.5″; when all four LEDs are lit, the human player has conquered the tower, and the robot cannot aim at it any longer. Of course, while the player pushes a button the robot may aim at another tower.

The system can estimate the the player’s skill on line and modify the capabilities of the robot to obtain an even game, in accordance to the theory of flow. There is also the possibility to trigger deceptive actions, which reinforce even more the sensation to play against a rational agent.

Presentation of the game.