Collabolla collaborative Pac-Man

See, those giant inflatable balls aren't just for pilates sessions at Crunch, as proven by three students at the Interaction Design Institute in Ivrea, Italy who created Collabolla, a Pac-Man game that is played using two of these giant balls instead of a joystick. The inflatable balls send commands to a computer, and it actually requires to players to cooperate together to play, with one controlling the left and right movement while the other controls the up and down. We'd love to get a set (just so we can say we get exercise, since we never, ever leave Engadget HQ), but since there is only one prototype right now, maybe they can hook us up with a how-to. It looks like there are just a lot of touch-sensitive pads involved.

[Christian @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

It's possible to check out Collabolla at www.next2004.dk, which is one of the biggest emerging technology and interaction design events in Scandinavia. It's held Dec. 1.+.2. in Copenhagen, Denmark.

[Nathan Waterhouse @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

Hi there, I'm Nathan, one of the designers of Collabolla. Thanks for your supportive words. If you want to know more about this, please check out our website Collabolla. You can see on this site the other places we have exhibited, and download videos of people playing. If you have resources to help us manufacture, please get in touch.

[Nathan Waterhouse @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

oops, link didn't work in last post - try this instead: http://people.interaction-ivrea.it/n.waterhouse/index.php?id=portfolio&genre=exhibition&project=collabolla&style=df

[Nathan Waterhouse @ Dec 19th 2005 1:47AM]

Collabolla can be checked out at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London at the 'Touch Me' Exhibition opening on the 16 June 2005. It will be shown next to MIT Medialab's PingPongPlus.

http://www.vam.ac.uk/exhibitions/future_exhibs/Touch_Me/

Nathan