Investigating Potential Augmentation of Home Objects to Facilitate Exercising

Augmented Reality (AR) head-mounted displays (HMDs) have the potential to facilitate more inclusive and immersive exercising and exergaming experiences at home. Different home objects can be augmented to facilitate different types of exercises at home. However, there is a lack of research investigating how home objects can be augmented into non-exercise-related objects, and how they should be tailored depending on the exercise. To obtain such insights, we conducted a study involving a design activity and focus group discussion. We found common categories of personal motivation for augmentation of home objects, how properties of the home object and movement of the exercise should be considered for augmentation, and how augmentation should include physically meaningful and engaging interactions, to ensure effective exercising and exergaming in AR at home. Our results contribute to the existing body of research by providing designers with factors to consider when selecting potential augmentations.