Screenplay: An interactive experience for children in hospital waiting rooms

Elaine Biddiss, from the Holland Bloorview Institute in Toronto (Canada), has designed an interactive and inclusive system consisting of a large projection screen and a pressure-sensitive film that allows children to remain distracted while waiting their turn in hospital waiting rooms.

Elaine Biddiss, Professor of the Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) of the University of Toronto, and scientist in the Holland Bloorview Research Institute, has developed an innovative waiting room for the children's sections of medical centers. This interactive display has been installed on the 2nd floor of the waiting room of Holland Bloorview Children's Rehabilitation Hospital in Toronto.

Waiting in a doctor's office or hospital can be a very stressful and terrifying experience for children and their families.. Some pediatric waiting rooms provide toys to distract children and relieve anxiety and boredom.. Traditional toys, However, can spread infections when handled and are often not accessible to children with disabilities.

Introducing Screenplay

Screenplay is an interactive and inclusive system for the waiting area of the Holland Bloorview clinic that features a large-scale projection screen with which children and adults can interact. The installation has a pressure-sensitive track composed of 100 Cards that allows children to, who are both standing and sitting, Create large projections on a wall-sized glass screen. Then the projection film is applied, calibrated by its movements, to the glass display from a ceiling-mounted projector.

For Biddiss, The facility originating from the reverse logic that helps serve children has been designed to appeal to the majority of children with severe disabilities and mobility issues., while keeping children active and fit in calm, Still, and committed . “The longer you stay in one place, The bigger the projection”, explained Biddiss, allowing those children with the least amount of mobility to create larger images. Soil also promotes collaborative learning: Several children can play together on the floor to create, For example, wall-sized forests.

Biddiss has also pointed out that Screenplay is “A great collaborative effort” among the engineers of the Holland Bloorview Children's Rehabilitation Foundation, and students from the Ontario University of Art and Design, who designed the projector images.

Watch video of the application

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