Shakra is an application that tracks the daily exercise activities of people carrying phones, using fluctuation in signal strength to estimate a user’s movement. Shakra can distinguish between three types of activity: still, walking/light running and traveling by car. Above are screenshots showing the appropriate action of the user carrying a mobile phone. The walking/running activity is shared among a pre-selected group of friends and the user can watch the progress of activity for both him/herself and friends. 
The application was evaluated within three groups of friends for one week. We found that awareness encouraged reflection on, and increased motivation for, daily activity. This application advances work on games and playful use of UbiComp technology, supporting enjoyable interactions that have secondary benefits. Binaries and SourceThe Shakra application, which runs on Windows Mobile SmartPhones, is available for download here. The Visual Studio 2005 solution containing the source code for Shakra is also available here. |