The Waving Queen

How can we help novices keep the ping pong game going?

How might we help novices position the racket correctly?

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For the Introduction to Multidisciplinary Interaction Design course we were asked to work on a group project about Combat and Focused Force activities. We first defined the topic as an activity that involves a contest between two or more individuals and a focused use of body strength. After discussing different sports and bodily activities such as martial arts, playing drums and arm-wrestling, we decided to focus on ping pong. In particular, we looked at how this sport is practiced in creative working spaces as a means to let go of tension, socialise and re-find focus.

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In modern creative working environments, the ping pong culture is very strong. This activity is practiced by employees during break to release stress accumulated during work, to socialise with coworkers and to enhance productivity. The ping pong culture, though, tends to marginalise novices that often don’t feel “good enough” to play with their co-workers.

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After researching academic literature about the ping pong practices and the benefits of ping pong in working spaces, we started observing employees playing ping pong in different offices. We observed the body movements, the rules they were using, the social aspects and the context of the practice. We continued with body sketching and observed players with different skill levels competing against each other, which led us to focus on novices to help them perfect their skills.

During our research, in fact, we found out that, even though ping pong is quite easy to learn and enjoy, novices have a hard time positioning the racket correctly, especially when serving the ball. The players told us that the game is more enjoyable when you can keep the ball going back and forth and that, in order to have fun, their opponent needs to be somewhat on their same level. Finally, novices feel some kind of shame when they have to go collect the ball because they missed a shot; this makes them insecure about playing again.

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After the insights collected from the research phase we came up with three main ideas:

- Ping Pong Friend: a wearable “friend” (Apple Watch App) which suggests Ping Pong breaks and connects with other potential players.

- Battleship Table: a digital ping pong table inspired by the classic game “Battleship” where the grid would adapt to the skills of the players to make the game more even.

- The Waving Queen: an interactive racket that tilts depending on the position of the ball and speed of the ball. Sensors in the ball and in the racket allows the artifact to assist the player.

After testing an earlier version of all the ideas we settled for the Waving Queen as Ping Friend didn’t really address the problem of novices not feeling “good enough” and the Battleship Table made the game too slow and not as fun anymore. To prototype the role that the racket would have we used Microb:ts to tilt the racket’s head.

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The Waving Queen is a training tool that explores the feeling of the "right" hit or movement through body regulation, extending the range of skills for players to enjoy the game. It’s an interactive racket that tilts depending on the position of the ball and speed of the ball. Sensors in the ball and in the racket allows the artifact to assist the player. In particular, it trains body memory to recognise the “right” movement using a gyroscope technology that positions the player’s arm correctly. The guiding effect of the device gradually fades away as the player learns how to position the arm properly.

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This smart racket helps novices learn how to play while playing with others and keeping the game fun for the opponent too.

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