Rob Tieben @ Work

Showcase portfolio and work overview of Rob Tieben: design-research & playful interactions Email: [email protected]

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PhD defense 28-09-2015 by Rob Tieben

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PhD defense Rob Tieben

Sep 28th, Filmzaal Zwarte Doos, Eindhoven University of Technology

I am proud to invite you to the defense of my PhD thesis titled 'Activating Play: a design research study on how to elicit playful interaction from teenagers'. You are warmly welcome to my defense and to the symposium (see below) at September 28th. The committee consists of the following members:

prof.dr.ir. A.C. Brombacher

prof.dr. B.A.M. Schouten

prof.dr.ir. J.H. Eggen

dr.ir. M.M. Bekker

dr. J.A. Sturm

prof.dr. W. Gaver (Goldsmiths University)

prof.dr. A. Waern (Uppsala University)

prof.dr. W.A. IJsselsteijn

T. Watson (Design I/O)

The defense will take place in Filmzaal Zwarte Doos, at the Eindhoven University of Technology; it will start at 16.00 sharp. Please register here. Hope to see you there! Best regards, Rob

Symposium Activating Play

A symposium about 'Activating Play' will be held in the afternoon before my defense. Several of my committee members will present their vision and cutting edge work about play, motivation, design research and other related inspirational topics. The symposium starts at 12.30 and ends at 15.00. Please register here. Preliminary program:

prof.dr. A. Waern - Engaging with structure

prof.dr.ir. J.H. Eggen - The Why of Playful Experience Design

Future details will follow soon!

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Wiggle the Eye interactive seats for physical and social play

Wiggle the Eye is a playful installation that elicits physical and social play. By sitting and wiggling on one of the interactive seats, players control the central streetlight and the vibration motors in other seats. This novel outcome stimulates players to be physically active while sitting, in order to discover what is possible with the installation. The installation is public, so one’s actions influence the experience of other players, resulting in strong social interaction. Wiggle the Eye was developed as part of the PlayFit design research project, and has been evaluated with more than five hundred users at events, high schools and other public spaces. Teenagers were motivated to start playing in an (inherently) active way, while enjoying themselves in a creative and social way. Creativity, pleasure and social interaction were enhanced while sedentary activity was reduced - a good solution to fight the inactivity problem and a first step to prevent obesity. This installation was designed and developed by Linda de Valk, Pepijn Rijnbout and Rob Tieben, as part of the PlayFit project and the CRISP I-PE project. User Evaluations/Exhibitions:

Demo at TU/e Open House

Four-week evaluation at Rooipannen college, Eindhoven

Four-week evaluation at Mondial college, Nijmegen

Demo at Innovation Business Event Eindhoven

Two-week exhibition at Polish Design Festival, Poland

Exhibition during Dutch Technology Week 2014

More information:

Video overview of Wiggle the Eye 2014 | 1 min - Making of (3 min)

Other posts about Wiggle the Eye | BLOG

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Walk of Fame moving through space in a performative way

Walk of Fame is a playful installation which frames moving through space in a performative way. By moving through the camera’s view, the image of a player is recut on top of another recording, creating an unexpected and ludicrous video composition. This novel outcome stimulates players to move their bodies in different ways to create new configurations. The installation is public, so the act of playing and the resulting recordings are visible for others to see, which adds a social and performative quality to the experience. This allows the players to use the installation for the thrill of performing and as a means of communication. Walk of Fame was developed as part of the PlayFit design research project, and has been evaluated with more than thousand users at events, high schools and other public spaces. Teenagers were motivated to start playing in an (inherently) active way, while enjoying themselves in a creative and social way. Creativity, pleasure and social interaction were enhanced while sedentary activity was reduced - a good solution to fight the inactivity problem and a first step to prevent obesity. This installation was designed by Rob Tieben as part of the PlayFit project; code development by Jeroen Hoogers as part of his internship. User Evaluations/Exhibitions:

Exhibition during Dutch Technology Week 2013

Evaluation during E-Moves festival at Dynamo Youth Centre

Four-week evaluation at Mondial College Nijmegen

Demo during Serious Request 2013

Demo at opening Embedded Fitness

Demo at IPON conference

Demo in Z@pplive, live TV show at Dutch national television

Demo at TU/e Experience Day

Exhibition during Dutch Technology Week 2014

Demo at Night of the Nerds 2014

Demo at Conference for Education and Social Media 2014

Demo at Interaction Design for Children (IDC) 2014 Denmark

Demo & study by UvA in Nemo Science Centre Amsterdam

More information:

Video overview of Walk of Fame 2014 | VIMEO

Other posts about Walk of Fame | BLOG

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Walk of Fame at four exhibitions simultaneously!

The Walk of Fame, Wiggle the Eye, and other PlayFit projects have been exhibited at four exhibitions simultaneously this week! TU/e Experience Day, Dutch Technology's Week Fontys Work in Progress, Night of the Nerds and the Conference for Education and Social Media (NCOSM). Thousands of visitors and players, and a lot of 'hidden activity' by convincing people to play in a social way.

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Walk of Fame - new video

New video featuring the Walk of Fame

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Walk of Fame (and me) live at Dutch television

The Walk of Fame, PlayFit and myself were featured in Z@pplive, a teenager media program on Dutch national television. In the show, teenagers could explore our interactive installations, and I explained a bit about PlayFit. More information:

Video recording of the television show: uitzending gemist

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Walk of Fame for Serious Request

Our installation Walk of Fame was part of the 'Playground, Serious Gaming for Serious Request' event. This playground with interactive games was one of the activities for Serious Request, a large charity event in the Netherlands. Visitors could play with the Walk of Fame and other games, in return for a donation for the Red Cross.

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Wiggle the Eye at Polish Design Festival

Our installation Wiggle the Eye was exhibited at the Lodz Design Festival in Poland for 10 days. Part of an exhibition about 'Deep Need', Wiggle the Eye created quite some playful activity among the thousands of visitors. At the last day of the festival, I gave a workshop about 'Playful persuasion in public spaces'.

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Swimgames.nl 2013: games in the pool

Once more, Menno Deen and myself organized the Swimgames.nl course. Students from Fontys ICT and TU/e ID developed interactive games for in the swimming pool, and evaluated them with real users in the Tongelreep. Impressive games, valuable user evaluations, and a lot of 'fun for thought'. More information:

Video overview of the developed games: vimeo

Photo impression of the course: flickr

Swimgames.nl website: url

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Games [4Health] Jam 2013: Sink or Swim!

Together with Fontys colleagues, I organized the 3rd Games [4Health] Jam; this year's theme was 'Sink or Swim': 40 participants created working games IN THE SWIMMING POOL, within 50 hours! Design sessions and user evaluations were done immediately in the swimming pool - with all the expected (and unexpected) complications. All by all, a fun and inspiring weekend, with good results from the participants. More information:

Video overview of the final games: vimeo

Video impression of the gamejam: vimeo

Game jam website & overview results: url

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Walk of Fame (in development)

A corridor in a regular high school in the Netherlands: you see a red carpet, and curiously walk over it. Seconds later, you see your head projected on the wall, with the body of someone else, and the legs of yet another person. You turn around, and walk over the carpet once more, but backwards - now, your legs appear, creating a jolly figure on the wall. The Walk of Fame is an interactive installation where teenagers play with - and by - walking through a corridor. The system records players, cuts the recording in three pieces, and projects a person's head with someone else's body and legs. Easy to learn, but hard to master: it is easy to create a funny composition, but a perfect combination of head-body-legs requires cooperation with other players - and a lot of walking through the corridor. The Walk of Fame elicits open-ended play: players decide on the go whether they create a person walking through the corridor, a figure dancing in the middle, a combination of three faces, or what so ever. Over time, the output of the Walk of Fame changes: from two to three slices, silhouettes, video images and stop motion pictures ensure prolonged social and physical play. The Walk of Fame has been evaluated at the Dutch Technology Week 2013 for one day; and at the E-Moves festival in Dynamo for 10 days. In September, the installation will be evaluated for six weeks at a high school in Nijmegen. More information:

Video overview of Walk of Fame | VIMEO

Video of user evaluation during Dutch Technology Week 2013 | VIMEO

Video of user evaluation in Dynamo Youth Centre, during E-Moves festival 2013| VIMEO

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Wiggle the Eye (in development)

The schoolyard of a highschool in Eindhoven: five new benches, and a streetlight with a mysterious globe. During lunchbreak, hesitant teenagers take place on the benches, and discover that they can wiggle and balance with their peers. The globe appears to contain a moving light: when it is looking towards a bench, the bench suddenly starts to vibrate – to the hilarity of the teens. Wiggle the Eye is an interactive installation at a schoolyard, with five wiggle-benches and a streetlight. By sitting, and wiggling occasionally, players can influence the behavior of the light, and let each other’s benches vibrate. The system’s behavior changes on a daily base; social and physical play is required in order to discover how one can influence the Eye. Wiggle the Eye is being evaluated at the Rooipannen VMBO school in Eindhoven, in a four-week user evaluation. Initial results show vibrant and enthusiastic wiggling by the teenagers. More information:

Short movie of Wiggle the Eye | VIMEO

News article in Cursor (in Dutch) | URL

News article in ID-zine | URL

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Press campaign about Playful Interactions

Recently, I've been featured in the TU/e press campaign, about playful persuasion, playfit, and my vision. Photos, a commercial on national television, and a 1-minute video about my work. Clearly a commercial, but still - a nice overview of my work! More information:

Commercial on Dutch television | YouTube

One minute interview/report | YouTube

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Games [4Health] Jam 2012: Public Play

Together with Menno Deen, Janienke Sturm and Luuk Waarbroek, I organized the 2nd Games [4Health] Jam; this year's theme was 'public play', and once again the 70 students created working games that motivate people to play in an active way - within 50 hours! The results have been presented and exhibited at the Dutch Design Week Stadhuis exhibition, the Games for Health Europe conference, and at the Games in the City conference. More information:

Video overview of the presentations: vimeo

Video impression of the gamejam: vimeo

Game jam website & overview results: url

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Course: games in the swimming pool

35 students from 3 education programs, 40 teenagers, a swimming pool, and 7 interactive games in the water: the course swimgames.nl was a great success! In this course, developed and lectured by Menno Deen and myself, our students designed and developed interactive games in the swimming pool. Cameras, RFID readers, buttons: it was all added to the Tongelreep swimming pool, and evaluated right away by eager teenagers. Hart van Nederland, a national news agency, also covered us in a news feature. More information can be found at Swimgames.nl More information:

Video overview of 'in-progress' concepts: Vimeo

Video overview of final concepts: Vimeo

Hart van Nederland news item: HvN

Course website & overview results: url

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PlayFit Student Explorations

In the PlayFit project, I am - and have been - coaching several students projects at ID TU/e and Fontys ICT GD&T. In these projects, students design and develop prototypes to motivate teenagers to be physically active, based on the principles from the PlayFit project and my design-research. The pictures show some examples of student's explorations:

the LightScribe app, a mobile app that allows light scribing - painting with light. By Hanna Zoon.

dotMirror, an interactive mirror that visualizes your silhouette in a enhancing way. By Troy Reugebrink.

Bomb It, an installation in the swimming pool that records user's jumps and bombs, and displays them on a large screen. By vd Bogaard, Donkers, Jacobs, Leenders, Verhoeven and v Woelderen.

Tea Seat, connected seats that allow playful sitting: movements on one seat, such as tilting, are translated to the other seat. By Al Abdeli, Janssen, Kersteman and Scheffer.