{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T19:53:20Z","timestamp":1775246000822,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,6]],"date-time":"2018-10-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1538784000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["MTI"],"abstract":"<jats:p>In this article we present the Phygital Game project, a mixed-reality game platform in which children can play with or against a robot. The project was developed by adopting a human-centered design approach, characterized by the engagement of both children and parents in the design process, and situating the game platform in a real context\u2014an educational center for children. We report the results of both the preliminary studies and the final testing session, which focused on the evaluation of usability factors. By providing a detailed description of the process and the results, this work aims at sharing the findings and the lessons learned about both the implications of adopting a human-centered approach across the whole design process and the specific challenges of developing a mixed-reality playground.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/mti2040069","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,8]],"date-time":"2018-10-08T10:44:53Z","timestamp":1538995493000},"page":"69","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":8,"title":["Design and Evaluation of a Mixed-Reality Playground for Child-Robot Games"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"2","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2425-8984","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maria Luce","family":"Lupetti","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"DAD, Politecnico di Torino, 39-10125 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giovanni","family":"Piumatti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DAUIN, Politecnico di Torino, 24-10129 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2714-1968","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Claudio","family":"Germak","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DAD, Politecnico di Torino, 39-10125 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-7703-1372","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fabrizio","family":"Lamberti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"DAUIN, Politecnico di Torino, 24-10129 Torino, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"115","DOI":"10.2976\/1.2748612","article-title":"The new robotics: Towards human-centred machines","volume":"1","author":"Schaal","year":"2017","journal-title":"HFSP J."},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"Fan, Y. (2008). User Acceptance Model Driven Design. [Ph.D. Thesis, Monash University]."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.2307\/249008","article-title":"Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and user acceptance of information technology","volume":"13","author":"Davis","year":"1989","journal-title":"MIS Q."},{"key":"ref_4","unstructured":"Beer, J.M., Prakash, A., Mitzner, T.L., and Rogers, W.A. (2011). Understanding Robot Acceptance, Georgia Institute of Technology. Technical Report HFA-TR-1103."},{"key":"ref_5","first-page":"439","article-title":"Robots in society, society in robot","volume":"2","author":"Sabanovic","year":"2010","journal-title":"Int. J. Soc. Robot."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Lie, S., Liu, D., and Bongers, B. (2012, January 3\u20135). A cooperative approach to the design of an operator control unit for a semi-autonomous grit-blasting robot. Proceedings of the Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation (ACRA), Wellington, New Zealand."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Huijnen, C., Badii, A., van den Heuvel, H., Caleb-Solly, P., and Thiemert, D. (2011, January 16\u201318). Maybe it becomes a buddy, but do not call it a robot\u2014Seamless cooperation between companion robotics and smart homes. Proceedings of the International Joint Conference on Ambient Intelligence, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-642-25167-2_44"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ros, R., Baxter, P., Nalin, M., Looije, R., Wood, R., and Demiris, Y. (2011, January 14\u201318). Child-robot interaction in the wild: Advice to the aspiring experimenter. Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on Multimodal Interfaces (ICMI\u201911), Alicante, Spain.","DOI":"10.1145\/2070481.2070545"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Baxter, P., Kennedy, J., Senft, E., Lemaignan, S., and Belpaeme, T. (2016, January 7\u201310). From characterising three years of HRI to methodology and reporting recommendations. Proceedings of the 7th ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, Piscataway, NJ, USA.","DOI":"10.1109\/HRI.2016.7451777"},{"key":"ref_10","unstructured":"Xu, Q., Ng, J., Cheong, Y.L., Tan, O., Wong, J.B., Tay, T.C., and Park, T. (2012, January 9\u201312). The role of social context in human-robot interaction. Proceedings of the Network of Ergonomics Societies Conference (SEANES), Southeast Asian, Langkawi, Malaysia."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ryoo, M.S., Fuchs, T.J., Xia, L., Aggarwal, J.K., and Matthies, L. (2015, January 2\u20135). Robot-centric activity prediction from first-person videos: What will they do to me?. Proceedings of the 10th Annual ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI \u201915), Portland, OR, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2696454.2696462"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Lupetti, M.L., Piumatti, G., and Rossetto, F. (2015, January 10\u201312). Phygital play HRI in a new gaming scenario. Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Intelligent Technologies for Interactive Entertainment (INTETAIN), Turin, Italy.","DOI":"10.4108\/icst.intetain.2015.259563"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"95","DOI":"10.1016\/S0004-3702(99)00027-2","article-title":"An affective mobile robot educator with a full-time job","volume":"114","author":"Nourbakhsh","year":"1999","journal-title":"Artif. Intell."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"29","DOI":"10.1108\/01439910110380424","article-title":"A mobile robot platform for assistance and entertainment","volume":"28","author":"Schraft","year":"2001","journal-title":"Ind. Robot Int. J."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Yamazaki, A., Yamazaki, K., Ohyama, T., Kobayashi, Y., and Kuno, Y. (2012, January 5\u20138). A techno-sociological solution for designing a museum guide robot: regarding choosing an appropriate visitor. Proceedings of the 7th Annual ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Boston, MA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/2157689.2157800"},{"key":"ref_16","unstructured":"Lupetti, M.L., Giuliano, L., and Germak, C. (2016, January 7\u20139). Virgil robot at racconigi castle: A design challenge. Proceedings of the Seventh International Workshop on Human-Computer Interaction, Tourism and Cultural Heritage, HCITOCH 2016, Turin, Italy."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wiles, J., Worthy, P., Hensby, K., Boden, M., Heath, S., Pounds, P., Rybak, N., Smith, M., Taufotofua, J., and Weigel, J. (2016, January 7\u201310). Social cardboard: Pretotyping a social ethnodroid in the wild. Proceedings of the 11th ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human Robot Interaction, Christchurch, New Zealand.","DOI":"10.1109\/HRI.2016.7451841"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Osada, J., Ohnaka, S., and Sato, M. (2006, January 14\u201316). The scenario and design process of childcare robot, PaPeRo. Proceedings of the 2006 ACM SIGCHI International Conference on Advances in Computer Entertainment Technology, Hollywood, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1178823.1178930"},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sabelli, A.M., Kanda, T., and Hagita, N. (2011, January 6\u20139). A conversational robot in an elderly care center: An ethnographic study. Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Lausanne, Switzerland.","DOI":"10.1145\/1957656.1957669"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"70","DOI":"10.5898\/JHRI.3.1.Sabanovic","article-title":"Designing robots in the wild: In situ prototype evaluation for a break management robot","volume":"3","author":"Reeder","year":"2014","journal-title":"J. Hum.-Robot Interact."},{"key":"ref_21","unstructured":"Van Rijn, H., and Stappers, P.J. (2008, January 1\u20134). Expressions of ownership: motivating users in a co-design process. Proceedings of the Tenth Anniversary Conference on Participatory Design 2008, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA."},{"key":"ref_22","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Forlizzi, J. (2007, January 10\u201312). How robotic products become social products: An ethnographic study of cleaning in the home. Proceedings of the ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Arlington, VA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1228716.1228734"},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Sung, J., Christensen, H.I., and Grinter, R.E. (2009, January 11\u201313). Robots in the wild: Understanding long-term use. Proceedings of the 4th ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), San Diego, CA, USA.","DOI":"10.1145\/1514095.1514106"},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"De Greeff, J., Blanson, O., Fraaije, A., Solms, L., Wigdor, N., and Bierman, B. (2014, January 3\u20136). Child-robot interaction in the wild: Field testing activities of the ALIZ-E project. Proceedings of the ACM\/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, Bielefeld, Germany.","DOI":"10.1145\/2559636.2559804"},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Bohus, D., Saw, C.W., and Horvitz, E. (2014, January 5\u20139). Directions robot: In-the-wild experiences and lessons learned. Proceedings of the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, Paris, France.","DOI":"10.65109\/KAPI6982"},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"(2017, November 17). Design Ethnography: Taking Inspiration from Everyday Life. Available online: https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/designet.pdf."},{"key":"ref_27","unstructured":"Karwowski, W. (2001). User Acceptance of Information Technology. Encyclopedia of Human Factors and Ergonomics, Taylor and Francis."},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Dautenhahn, K., Woods, S., Kaouri, C., Walters, M.L., Koay, K.L., and Werry, I. (2005, January 2\u20136). What is a robot companion-friend, assistant or butler?. Proceedings of the IEEE\/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Edmonton, AB, Canada.","DOI":"10.1109\/IROS.2005.1545189"},{"key":"ref_29","unstructured":"Istat (2011). Infanzia e Vita Quotidiana, Report Istat."},{"key":"ref_30","unstructured":"Ipsos for Save the Children and Mondelez International Foundation (2017, November 17). Lo Stile di Vita Dei Bambini e Ragazzi Italiani. Available online: https:\/\/www.savethechildren.it\/press\/stili-di-vita-dei-bambini-italia-1-minore-su-5-non-svolge-attivit\u00e0-motorie-nel-tempo-libero."},{"key":"ref_31","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1109\/MCG.2005.12","article-title":"Interaction using a handheld projector","volume":"25","author":"Beardsley","year":"2005","journal-title":"IEEE Comput. Graph. Appl."},{"key":"ref_32","first-page":"571","article-title":"Gestalt theory in interactive media design","volume":"2","author":"Graham","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Humanit. Soc. Sci."},{"key":"ref_33","unstructured":"Kultima, A. (October, January 30). Casual game design values. Proceedings of the 13th International MindTrek Conference: Everyday Life in the Ubiquitous Era, New York, NY, USA."},{"key":"ref_34","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"130","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogsys.2016.09.007","article-title":"Assessment of fun in interactive systems: A survey","volume":"41","author":"Vieira","year":"2017","journal-title":"Cogn. Syst. Res."},{"key":"ref_35","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"195","DOI":"10.1123\/jtpe.11.2.195","article-title":"System for observing fitness instruction time","volume":"11","author":"McKenzie","year":"1991","journal-title":"J. Teach. Phys. Educ."},{"key":"ref_36","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"17","DOI":"10.1123\/jpah.7.1.17","article-title":"Reliability and validity of the system for observing children\u2019s activity and relationships during play (SOCARP)","volume":"7","author":"Ridgers","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Phys. Act. Health"}],"container-title":["Multimodal Technologies and Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/2\/4\/69\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T18:57:40Z","timestamp":1775242660000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2414-4088\/2\/4\/69"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,6]]},"references-count":36,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,12]]}},"alternative-id":["mti2040069"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mti2040069","relation":{},"ISSN":["2414-4088"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2414-4088","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,6]]}}}