VitaMaze: A VR Exergame Driven using Feedback from Physiological Sensors

Exercise is an integral part of a healthy lifestyle. However, circumstances can prevent individuals from having the motivation to exercise. We present a demonstration of VitaMaze, a novel integration of physiological sensing with virtual reality for exercise encouragement. VitaMaze is a maze-based application that uses heart rate and surface electromyography sensors attached to the player's body to control avatar motion in game. We apply intelligent decision-making algorithms to decipher incoming data from the sensors and generate deterministic movement in real-time based upon the players perceived effort and strength. The player is timed throughout the game, and is incentivized to strive for faster times. Multiple layers of feedback are used to guide the players exertion, including visual and auditory feedback. Since cheating can greatly reduce the effectiveness of exergames, our application uses classification-based cheating mitigation that identifies cheating based on incoming signals and adapts the application to disincentivize cheating.