Members

Dr. Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller directs the Exertion Games Lab and is co-director of the Centre for Game Design Research at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.Floyd’s research has spanned four continents, including research posts at the University of Melbourne (Australia), MIT Media Lab (USA), Media Lab Europe (Ireland), Fuji-Xerox Palo Alto Laboratories (USA) and Xerox Parc (USA). Floyd was also leading a team of 12 researchers at the Commonwealth and Scientific Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). He has been a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Stanford University (USA). Floyd has also been a Microsoft Research Asia Fellow and has worked at Microsoft Beijing (China) with the research teams developing Xbox’s Kinect. Floyd’s research work was presented at the top conferences in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) and computer games, including several best paper nominations. Floyd’s Exertion Games work has been shortlisted for the European Innovation Games Award (next to Nintendo’s Wii Fit), received honorary mentions from the Nokia Ubimedia Award, was commissioned by Wired’s Nextfest, exhibited worldwide and attracted substantial international research funding, including numerous grants from the US, the Australian, the UK and the German Government. His team’s Exertion Games were played by over 20,000 players across 3 continents and were featured on the BBC, ABC, Discovery Science Channel and Wired magazine.
Floyd’s personal site
Floyd’s Twitter
Dr. Betty Sargeant PhD, B.A (Hons), B.Ed, is an award-winning creator: artist, author and designer. She has been the Melbourne Knowledge Fellow (2015-17), creator-in-residence at the Asia Culture Centre (2016 & 2017, South Korea), Fellow of the International Specialised Skills Institute (2016) and in 2016 she won the Consensus Innovation Award in recognition of her progressive design work. She is now creator-in-residence at the Exertion Games Lab.

Twit – @BettySargeant
Web – www.bettysargeant.com
Blog – www.bettysargeant.tumblr.com



Justin Dwyer is an award winning artist who creates immersive audio-visual experiences. Winner of 2017 Premier’s Design Award-Digital Design (w/ Betty Sargeant). Top 5 Lumen Prize (global award) finalist for his 2014 work Floating Worlds. He has designed a number of Virtual Reality works including his 2016 work Ablaze, and has been artist-in-residence at Banff Centre and the Asia Culture Centre.

www.pluginhuman.com , @pluginhuman, Twitter , Facebook, Instagram

Rich Byrne is a Welsh software developer and researcher who has joined the Exertion Games Lab as a PhD candidate.  His primary research interest lies in the area of augmenting mobile technology to aid human experience – particularly in the realms of encouraging active lifestyles and helping individuals to improve physical performance and achieve their own goals. After obtaining a Bachelors in Computer Science from Swansea University (Wales, UK), Richard went on to pursue a Research Masters at Swansea’s Future Interaction Technology Lab, which specialises in Human-Computer Interaction and Interaction Design.  Here he was able to explore his research interests by pursuing projects such as: using spatial audio to control running pace, determining a persons mood from their walking gait and encouraging physical activity with mobile devices. After time spent working as a professional software developer at a security company, Richard decided he wanted to return to the world of academia and joined Nottingham University as a Project Developer.  Whilst there he became aware of the work of the Exertion Games Lab and decided to apply for a position.An avid climber, he wishes to investigate how (and if) technology and climbing can be combined in order to either improve, complement or alter the close experience climbers share with their outdoor passion.He has vowed to start running again as he refuses to be the only member of a lab specialising in “Exertion Games” who is carrying extra weight.Website: www.richbyrne.co.uk  twitter: @triard
Game Blog: www.8brit.co.uk

From an early age, through self-directed play, Ti instinctively began to develop her ability to think through design – making pinch pots with clay, architectural models with paper, and even spending three weeks obsessively recreating a scale model of the Titanic using cardboard and coca cola bottles in grade 5.­ When Ti grew up she pursued a formal design education and graduated from RMIT’s industrial design and communication design degrees – the latter with first class honours and a 4.0 GPA. This achievement placed her in the top 2% of graduates at RMIT in 2017 and for this she was listed on the Vice Chancellor’s List of Academic Excellence. Beyond those numbers, this path developed her fluency in the language of design and strengthened her ability to think through design. Ti now views design as a way to question the world around her and to provoke thought. An odd mix of interests in design, science and entrepreneurship has led Ti to pursue a PhD investigating how design can be applied to developing more human healthcare technology. Some people think Ti has a strong ability to think strategically, but actually, she’s just following her happy instincts. Simply stated, she has the instincts of a panda bear and not that of a race horse.

www.designerlybeings.com Instagram: designerly.beings





Bob Jarvis is an accomplished audio-visual artist based in Melbourne, Australia. Working across live video, performance, music, animation and software development, he holds a Bachelor of Music from Adelaide University and a Masters of Computing from RMIT which he applies to the development of tools for live, audio-visual performance. His piece for chamber orchestra and live projection, “Concerto for Light Sculpture“, which won The Vice Chancellors Award at The International Space Time Concerto Competition in 2012. Concepts of that piece were extended in the 2013 work “Luminesce“, a collaboration with Gian Slater and her choir Invenio which explored emergence and the visualisation of musical arrangement. Luminesce went on to win in the live category of the International Visual Music Awards in 2015.  Other examples of his work have been exhibited at The National Gallery of Victoria, The Australian Centre for the Moving Image, The Sydney Royal Botanic Gardens, Hawkes Bay MTG, Museum De Lakenhal and The Heide Museum of Modern Art. He once wrote an app for orangutans.

zeal.co

youtube.com/zealtv





Joseph La Delfa is researching how play in public spaces can reduce loneliness in young people. He is interested in evoking behaviors and attitudes that alleviate loneliness and isolation, even if it means breaking with social norms to do so. He explored these themes as a freelance product design engineer before joining the Exertion Games Lab, where he now aims to use exertion games as a catalyst for proactive mental health. He thinks travelling to former Yugoslav and Soviet Union countries is a legitimate pastime and guaranteed good time. Also, he likes dancefloors, fungi and cephalopods

cafeciaojoe.com





 

 

Rakesh Patibanda graduated from the Exertion Games Lab andCiART Lab, RMIT University with a Masters in Design (by research). For his master’s research, he wrote a thesis on understanding the design of breathing exercise games. His background is in electronics and communications engineering with professional experience of being the director and game design/development lead ofGoLive Gaming Studios. He has also worked on enterprise gamification projects such as 7 Cups and Reputada. His research interests lie at the intersection of serious games and human-computer interaction (HCI). He is currently working as a Senior User Experience Designer at RMIT University while pursuing his Ph.D. at the lab under the supervision ofProf. Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller andAssociate Professor Jonathan Duckworth. Through his explorative Ph.D., he is understanding the design of biofield games that help nurture mindfulness. Biofield is an untapped area in the design of biofeedback games and biofield games could potentially help people lead a healthy and self-informed life. He loves playing video games on his PS4 (username is rakeshpatibanda – feel free to connect) and wakes up at odd times to watch an Arsenal and Barcelona match (Australia! Why are you ahead in time?!). He also loves to cook, read, and trek sometimes. You can check his Instagram page for his cooking photos (you’d definitely want to come home!). You can read more about his work on his personal website and contact him viaLinkedIn,facebook,twitter,Instagram or via email. 

 

Yuyang ‘Eric’ Zhang is engaged in projects aimed at making meaningful improvements to people’s lives by developing and implementing body-system partnerships, most notably in the form of novel augmented eBikes. Eric is also an electrical engineer accredited by Engineers Australia and a programmer. He originally graduated from the University of Melbourne with a Master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering in 2018.

Eric is a lover of Australian Iconic hats – Akubra, and he claims one day he will collect all the types of hats from Akubra. Will his dream come true?

Find Eric at his Facebook and LinkedIn.

 

 



Kurra Harshitha is a final year Computer Science Engineering student of IIIT Chennai, India with an interest in writing, coding & learning new things. Having acquired a newfound love for Human Computer Interaction, she decided to apply for an Internship at the best possible place and flew all the way to Melbourne, Australia. Currently, she is a visiting research intern at Exertion Games Lab, RMIT University. She has started working on Human Food interaction under Florian ‘Floyd’ Mueller and Rohit Ashok Khot. On the other hand Kurra likes making friends from different countries and is an amateur photographer with an itch for traveling. Believes coffee can cure anything. Loves cats and hopes she owns a Persian or Scottish fold cat one day.
theunicornweb.wordpress.com
https://www.linkedin.com/in/harshita-kurra-b6710a138
https://www.facebook.com/harshitakurra
Instagram: Harshita Kurra (@hershey_kur)

Eshita Arza is a final year undergraduate student of IIITDM, India. She flew all the way to the city of Melbourne to work as a Visiting Research Fellow at Exertion Games Lab. She is currently working on a project in the field of Human Food Interaction. Eshita is passionate about Machine Learning and Human Computer Interaction, and is looking forward to work on amazing projects in the intersection of the two. She plays guitar, badminton and she also loves to cook. So if you are ever hungry, you know who’s door to knock!
www.linkedin.com/in/eshitaarza
www.facebook.com/eshita.arza

My colleagues and describe me as bright, curious, and outgoing as well as easygoing. On the professional side, my expertise lies mainly in human-computer interaction, user experience design, and large-scale international business services. Previously I completed a traineeship as solution designer on intelligent workplace solutions at Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. Currently I am pursuing a Master of Science degree in Information Sciences at the University of Amsterdam. In the Exertion Games Lab, I am working on a playful experience in which players can feel each other’s body temperature in the form of changes in temperature in a wearable heating pad. In this scenario I am exploring how temperature feedback can influence bodily awareness. In addition, back home in the Netherlands I engage passionately in volunteering efforts. I educated elderly immigrants on essential digital skills, and I have been peer-educator to inform visitors of international music festivals in The Netherlands and abroad on safer nightlife and substance use. In my spare time I like reading about psychology, history, and religion. I love spending time with family and friends – preferably by exploring pristine wilderness in remote corners of the world.





Felix Brandmueller is a visiting Master student from Vienna, studying Medical Computer Science at the Technical University of Vienna (TU Wien). He’s interested in combining the fields of medical applications and games and therefore created a game which uses ingestible sensors called GutsGame. His bachelor thesis was about Serious Games for Stroke Patients, which also follows that direction. His other interest lays in traveling and exploring different cultures as for example Iceland, Indonesia and lately Australia. Also he is an amateur photographer, which definitely makes a good team with traveling. His rule for eating foreign food: if it smells awful but tastes good, it’s strange but okay; however if it’s smells odd and tastes disgusting you probably shouldn’t eat it, especially when local people are laughing at you.

Peter Arnold joined the Exertion Games Lab as a visiting researcher from LMU Germany from September 2016 until April 2017 with a broad background in HCI. He is a master student for Media Informatics and in the progress of finishing his studies in Munich where he mainly took courses in human-computer learning environments and multimedia programming and also gave tutorials for the lecture “Digital Media” for bachelor students. For his master research project and his master thesis he visited RMIT to develop a multisensory mobile virtual reality game called “You Better Eat to Survive!”, which won the Student Games Competition at CHI ’17 in Denver in the category “Innovative Interfaces”. Peter is interested in creating novel interaction techniques for modern games such as virtual reality games, that use underexplored bodily interactions, for example eating, as a way to control part of the games.

“What got me a little concerned was that instead of shooting the flare gun into the sky to call for help to get rescued from the island in my game most people tried immediately to shoot a peaceful bird sitting nearby.”

Twitter: https://twitter.com/p3t3yp3t3



Wouter Walmink has recently joined the lab as a visiting researcher. He is a multi-disciplinary interaction designer with a background in Industrial Design (TU/e) and is co-founder of studio:ludens, a company creating design tools for non-designers.Wouter’s talent is understanding how to merge new forms of interaction and technology to create meaningful user experiences. In the past 5 years he has developed a range of design tools among with the pattern creator Repper (>120K user-created patterns), Magic Box (2x Unlimited Design Contest winner) and a range of tools for the world-renowned design agency Droog. His aim at the Exertion Games Lab is to apply his industry experience in the academic context and create a deeper understanding of creativity and play in exertion games.Wouter secretly uses weighted comparison tables in Excel to make arbitrary decisions between close-to-equal options.Wouter’s personal site
Wouter’s business site
Wouter’s Twitter
Chek Tien Tan is currently a co-director of the Games Studio at the University of Technology, Sydney. He is also a Lecturer with the School of Software in the Faculty of Engineering & IT. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the National University of Singapore (NUS). Chek is particularly interested in applied research and teaching domains especially in games and interactive media technologies. In research, Chek’s publications span across the domains of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Computer Graphics. He has held various key appointments at leading academic conferences, including SIGGRAPH Asia and the Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment. He currently also sits on the academic advisory board for the annual Sydney International Animation Festival. With the industry, Chek has worked alongside Ubisoft to develop employee training programs whilst he was an Assistant Professor at the DigiPen Institute of Technology. He also runs the Kinect Labs with Microsoft Australia. In the media, Chek has appeared as guest experts on the Good Game television show on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and Enquiring Minds on Television Sydney (TVS), as well as exclusively interviewed on the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) and wrote invited articles on The Conversation. More about Chek: chek.gamesstudio.orghttps://twitter.com/ChekTienTan

Tim Ryan is a multi-disciplinary interaction designer who has joined the Exertion Games Lab to conduct a PhD research project. With a background in interactive media and an interest in blending physical and virtual experiences in public play spaces, Tim is exploring the realm of unstructured sport with a focus on the implications of Interactive Sports Flooring and Virtual Social Facilitation. Tim holds a Masters in Animation and Interactive Media and a Masters of Art in Public Space from RMIT University. Each of these academic research projects combined sport, art, design and technology to create innovative interactive experiences for surfers and skateboarders.Tim’s sports & games credentials  – competent at many, champion at none!Personal website/blog – www.mayswell.com

Chad Toprak is a passionate game designer and researcher at the lab who holds a Bachelor of Arts (Digital Art) degree at RMIT University.With the intention of doing further research and studies in games and digital play, Chad has recently completed Honours in the Exertion Games Lab and is currently undertaking a PhD degree. His passion lies in social, playful and pervasive games, with evoking playfulness through ludic interventions as one of his main research interests.Chad actively participates in and contributes to festivals and events such as Freeplay. He has previously co-organised and curated RMIT’s Games Open Day (’09-’12) and 2011 Games Graduate Exhibition.
In his spare time, Chad likes to indulge in rapid game development.
Chad’s website
Chad’s Twitter

Ginger-Lee holds “Puppy Preschool” and a “Level 1” certificate from Perfect Spot dog training. She enjoys vigorous physical activity, as well as quiet periods of deep contemplation on matters such as “the hard problem of consciousness”.  Ginger’s unique physical characteristics, as well as her laconic demeanour and razor-sharp intelligence, make her a valued research assistant and an indispensable member of the Exertion Games Lab team.

Amy Huggard, is Geelong based game designer, researcher and artist who has recently graduated RMIT University with a Bachelor of Design (Games) Degree. She has also previously graduated Gordon Institute of Tafe, with a Diploma in Applied Fashion Design & Technology. Through these years of study, Amy found her passion for games, research and art and is inspired to bring these elements together and continue to discover new and exciting things. Therefore, Amy will be undertaking her Honours Degree at the Exertion Games Lab in 2013.Furthermore Amy hopes to continue to learn and push herself further into the field of games and explore their limitless possibilities. In doing so, she aspires to share her new found knowledge with others, and open people up to the possibilities of games, and the importance of fun and play as a lifestyle.When Amy is not glued to her laptop screen, or procrasti-baking (procrastination in the form of baking), she can be found outdoors pottering in her veggie garden, running very long distances or just relaxing in the sun.Amy’s Portfolio Website: http://amyhuggard.weebly.com
Amy’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/sby666

Anushka De Mel (Otherwise known as ‘Chet’) is a Melbourne based game designer, researcher and artist who has recently graduated with a Bachelor of Design (Games) Degree at RMIT University. Having acquired a newfound love and appreciation for research that intends to alter the way in which we think, art, game and (even) embrace, Anushka plans on undertaking her Honours Degree at the Exertion Games Lab in 2013. Furthermore, as part of it, she hopes to fascinate, provoke and terrify others with her creations as well as open them to new ideas that are only possible through the medium of games. Finally, when she’s not game-storming, sketching or thinking on the benefits of close physical proximity (between strangers), Anushka spends much of her time making lists and watching random, yet inspirational, videos which feature mutant robot monkeys, fluffy unicorns and badass sheep.Anushka’s Website: http://anushkademel.weebly.com/
Anushka’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/A_nush_ka
Anushka’s Research Blog: http://a-nush-ka.tumblr.com/





Joshua Platt is serious about games, gaming and games design. He has completed his Honours in the lab. Josh has been working in the Exertion Games Lab, designing and building game environments that immerse users in multi-sensory experiences. He enjoys combining game mechanics with physical activity; developing ideas that invoke the imagination and push boundaries. So why exertion games? Earlier this year Josh tore his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and underwent a full knee reconstruction. Through the rehabilitation process Josh was exposed to some very mundane and uninspiring exercises. He soon began to understand how these exercises could have a negative impact on people’s motivation, which in turn impacts their health outcomes. Josh believes there is an opportunity to transform the exercise and rehabilitation process through exertion games, potentially giving people much better recovery prognosis.Josh finds it funny that everyone has better spelling than him in the lab, and its not even his second language!Joshua’s website

Joshua’s Twitter
Joshua’s research blog 

Danielle Wilde holds a PhD in Body Technology Poetics, from Monash University Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture and CSIRO Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Australia. She also holds an MA in Interaction Design from the Royal College of Art in London, has a background in circus arts and a penchant for participation. She is trained in a number of performance techniques, that inform her approach to embodied engagement in playful as well as pragmatic contexts. By placing the body central to her research, and engaging the body through the imagination and the imagination through the body, Danielle is able to blur boundaries between disciplines and question the divide between art and everyday life. Her work, through process and outcomes, questions how we design, create and live. In 2009 Danielle was honored with an inaugural Australian Prime Minister’s Australia Award to undertake research at The University of Tokyo. Her PhD was awarded the 2012 Monash University Vice Chancellor’s Mollie Holman Medal for excellence. She has undertaken Research Fellowships and Artist Residencies at STEIM, Studio for Electro-Instrumental Music in Amsterdam, The Pervasive Interaction Lab at the Open University, UK, The Department for Design, Architecture and the Built Environment at Nottingham Trent University, UK and has been resident at the Creative Systems Lab at Sussex University, UK. Her work is exhibited and published widely.daniellewilde.com
d on twitter

Timothy Jeffs is currently studying a Bachelor of Arts (Animation and Interactive Media) at RMIT University. A keen animator and cartoonist, Tim also loves making games and is part of the team responsible for the development of the Waterfall Climber at the lab. Tim is interested in creating unique experiences for people, pushing the familiar into new contexts and situations to create something new. He has mainly worked with Flash and ActionScript 3.0 when developing games but is constantly extending his knowledge in other software and languages.Tim is a terrible rock-climber.

www.games.rmit.edu.au/assetgen



Alan Chatham is a visiting researcher at the Exertion Games Lab. After graduating Pomona College with a degree in economics, he spent the last 3 years designing innovative video game controllers, including the award-winning OpenChord guitar. Having a particular interest in how designers can create systems to alter user behaviour, he is currently researching how scoring systems influence player motivation.He is also a champion bodybuilder.Alan’s Tumblr about his UnoJoy project.




Harry Lee is an independent game designer passionate about play, puzzles, and people. He loves creating fun experiences that make people think, infused with clever design and playful narrative. Harry is currently studying medicine at Monash University and making award winning games with his studio, Wanderlands. At the lab, he aims to violently collide his medical and ludic interests, and his research into the playful applications of electrical muscle stimulation is the beautiful lovechild of that curious union.Harry derails metaphors like a steamroller.Harry’s website
Harry’s Twitter




Alexander Perrin is soon to undertake his second year in digital arts (games) at RMIT. He is passionate about the visual arts- specifically 3-dimensional graphics development, but also takes great interest in bringing things to life with the use of programming (Have a look at his website). Outside his studies, Alex appreciates architecture, cats and bicycles.Alex is in and out of the lab assisting with the general design of a kinect game project utilizing projection upon the body.

Atticus Bastow comes from a strong music performance background, having studied music (specifically Drums and Percussion) for over 10 years. After completing a Bachelor degree in Music Performance, Atticus decided to follow a pathway exploring the limitless possibilities of sound, freeing himself from the rigidity of music theory.
Atticus’ music performance and composition experience ranges from minimal ambient and digital music synthesis (including a large focus on MAXMSP), to arranging for Big Band jazz ensembles and orchestras.
His sound design palette is similarly diverse, having sculpted sonic pieces for numerous disciplines including Dance, Animation, Film and experimental video art, as well as approaching the computer as a performative music tool in both solo and ensemble environments.
Atticus is currently undertaking a Bachelor of Fine Arts at RMIT, specializing in Sound Design.




My name is Sebastiaan Pijnappel. Optimist, perfectionist and life-lover for 25 years, designer of novel interactive products for 6.5 years.




Eric Dittloff is a video director fascinated by games and their designers.Working with members of the Exertion Games Lab has offered the opportunity to work with the researchers of complex and sometimes nuanced ideas. The challenge in their projects is to introduce details and the project’s mood in the simplest and most elegant way possible. As a recent graduate of RMIT’s Media program, he finds the Exertion Games Lab is an excellent environment to refine his understanding of the content, form and experience of different media. He hopes to profile separately the Exertion Games Lab and the nature of game design as it relates to society in the immediate future.Eric is secretly terrified of his internal organs being replaced by aliens in the night and, unaware, waking up as a cyborg.Eric’s portfolio.




Ho Hsin Yang is a game designer, programmer and developer that has graduated in a Bachelor of Design in Games from RMIT. Yang originally studied Electrical & Mechatronics Engineering at UniSA in South Australia, though he found himself very much into the modification of games ever since the first release of Half-Life in 1999. He eventually found his passion in games and its development after being introduced to programming and design.Yang is now currently involved in the development of a few indie game titles and lends his skills as a developer and designer, and mainly a programmer to the Exertion Games Lab at RMIT University. He has a love deep down for anything augmented or virtual that combines physical space, body and mind together with a digital world to create an intensely immersive and deep experience.He sometimes wonders though if the Exertion Games Lab took him in not for his skills, but as a provider of some of the finest trance music.Yang’s website: http://mainframerodent.weebly.com
Yang’s Twitter: http://twitter.com/hamsteyr

Dr Rohit Ashok Khot was the Deputy Director of the Exertion Games Lab; and Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at RMIT University, Australia. Rohit’s research embodies interdisciplinary strength and explores the amalgamation of design and technology in a creative way.

More about him:  http://datamaterialities.org/,  http://rohitashokkhot.com



Ruth Sancho Huerga has worked on the stage for more than 20 years. She studied Theatre Studies in Laboratorio de Teatro William Layton (Madrid), Drama in Collegi del Teatre (Barcelona), English Philology and a Postgraduate in Digital Literature (University of Barcelona). She is an actress, poet, playwright and theatre director. Her curiosity and interest in new technologies pushed her to experiment, create and research on the interrelation between movement, poetry and digital art. In 2011 she was awarded with the Australian Endeavour Postgraduate Award to study in RMIT University.