CLARITY at DCU Sports Summer Camp
6 August 2009

Corey Sherlock, aged 10, pictured using the dance mat game

CLARITY has joined with DCU Sports to offer an hour of interactive fun to students attending their multi sport camp. Every Tuesday throughout the camp period, groups of 20-25 students between the ages of 7-15 years are getting to herd virtual sheep into a virtual pen or to dance while spelling or doing maths. Professor Alan Smeaton, deputy director of CLARITY, who initiated the collaboration, commented that “these games are a great opportunity to help children to develop motor skills, communication and teamwork skills as well getting exercise”.

Both games were developed by researchers within CLARITY. The Sheep Game, which uses sensor technology to track players as they move around a room, was developed by summer intern Marc Gowing, as part of his fourth year project in DCU. The dance mat game, uses a conventional dance mat and is connected to a spelling and maths problems, was developed by Brendan O’Huiginn, a research masters student in UCD.

CLARITY: Centre for Sensor Web Technologies is a partnership between Dublin City University and University College Dublin, supported by research at the Tyndall National Institute (TNI), Cork. CLARITY also collaborates with industry partners including Foster Miller, IBM, Vodafone, ChangingWorlds and Critical Path. For more information on CLARITY check the website: www.clarity-centre.org.

DCU Sports runs camps throughout the summer for students aged 7-15 years. There are three camp types: adventure camp, multi sport camp and pre-school camp. For more information, check out the summer camp brochure here.