Allergenious is an interactive game for people of all ages that demonstrates how immune cells may react to various allergens entering human body. Through fun and exploratory interactions the game allows its players to understand how allergies work and how they occur. It is an example of how learning about complex processes in our bodies could be simplified and done with fun.

Not everyone has allergies, and even those of us who do have allergies are most often allergic to only one or two things. In our game it is the player’s task to find out if the “patient” is allergic to any of the allergens we introduced in the game. If player finds an allergen that makes the immune cell raise a false alarm in the body, the patient starts sneezing and displays other common allergic reaction symptoms like red itchy eyes and runny nose. We also allow players to stop these symptoms by applying the medicine to the immune cell.

Process

Arduino Yun was used for controlling the backend electronics required to make the face react with the game controls. The main challenge was how to effectively educate the players about allergies.  We started by making a face from paper sheet, then we integrated the electronics within the face. During the whole process, we iterated and refined the concept several times, which allowed us to make it more engaging for the players.

 

Demo

Credits

My team included Melina Pyykkönen and Sergey Komardenkov.