TABLE IV.
Category | Benefits | Limitations | Implications |
---|---|---|---|
Living Space | • Participants liked the fact that they could exercise at home. | • Only few participants had the required 8’+ space in front of their computer. • Accuracy of tracking was affected in some exercises due to small space. • Chair or other objects were some-times interfering with tracking. |
• Kinect 2 has improved skeletal tracking and wider field of view (60Deg HFOV vs. 43Deg HFOV). • Set up the system in a living room or common space for multiple users. |
Computer System | • All-in-one computer was easy to set up by a non-technical person, i.e., health coach. | • It was difficult to find space for the computer since it was rather large and bulky. • Participants thought the all-in-one computer would not be appropriate as a long-term solution. • 23" screen was still too small for some older adults. |
• Use of a small-desktop PC connected to an existing large screen TV set. • Configure the computer to work as a turn-key system. |
User Interface | • Participants found the exercise software easy to use. • Participants were able to use wireless keyboard and mouse successfully. |
• Several participants still had difficulty seeing text on the screen. | • Improvements in the UI: larger fonts, buttons with familiar icons, more contrast in colors. • Better use of text-to-speech to assist users in reading larger amounts of text. • Use of dedicated remote to control interaction. |
In-Exercise Feedback | • Participants liked the video guidance through the exercise sessions. • Most participants liked receiving encouraging feedback from the exercise system. |
• Participants questioned when the system is able to see them. • Participants did not understand meaning of performance measures. |
• Adding feedback with the Kinect body tracking information (e.g., human figure, skeleton). • Simplified feedback through repetition counting. • Provide more effective feedback to correct improper performance. • Development of more intuitive performance scores (e.g., scores related to balance, strength, flexibility, endurance). |
Exercise Regimen | • Participants in general liked included exercises. | • Some participants found exercises too easy for their level of fitness. • Some exercises were consistently performed incorrectly. • Participants asked to have more variety and control over the exercises for longer-term use of the exercise system. |
• Provide larger variety of exercises with different difficulty levels for different parts of the body. • Provide participants with a weekly schedule of exercises based on their past performance. |
Outcome Measures | • Kinect-based internal outcome measures proved to be robust enough to perform exercise tracking in most cases. | • Proposed outcome measures for tracking the exercises were difficult to convey to the participants. • External outcome measures (e.g. BBS, SFT) suffered from ceiling effect. |
• Derive performance measures based on standard components of physical fitness from Kinect data. • Select appropriate clinical measures based on participant fitness levels to avoid the ceiling effect. • Use of process evaluation methodology [33] to assess effectiveness of intervention. |