Computer Analysis and Enhanced Visualization of Play Interactions

A method of providing play therapy analytics, the method comprising the steps of:

• affixing a microcontroller inside a physical toy, the microcontroller having an embedded operating system reading stored instructions to execute functions and procedures according to computer-readable code;
• securing a battery inside the physical toy and electrically coupling the battery to the microcontroller to power it;
• affixing a plurality of pressure sensors inside or upon the surface of the physical toy, the sensors communicatively coupled to the microcontroller through an input/output (I/O) connection, the pressure sensors detecting force imparted upon the sensor measured by resistance drop to electrical current running through each sensor, each sensor connected through a dedicated I/O connection wherein the microcontroller contains instructions to poll the plurality of pressure sensors for a value representative of electrical resistance;
• affixing an accelerometer inside or upon the surface of the physical toy, the accelerometer communicatively coupled to the microcontroller through another dedicated I/O connection whereby gravitational forces imparted on the physical toy are sensed and communicated to the microcontroller;
• affixing a transceiver inside or upon the surface of the physical toy, the transceiver communicatively coupled to the microcontroller and configured to transmit data collected by the pressure sensors and accelerometer to an external transceiver;
• providing a computer workstation having a processor and computer-readable memory storing software for executing functions and procedures on the processor;
• providing a digital camera capturing video of a play therapy session including at least one child interacting with the physical toy, the digital camera encoding an audiovisual stream into a storage device as stored video accessible by the processor;
• connecting the processor to the external transceiver, the external transceiver receiving timecoded accelerometer and pressure sensor data from the microcontroller in the physical toy during the play therapy session;
• providing computer readable instructions in the computer workstation memory for generating a graphic avatar representation of the physical toy and modifying the visual representation of the avatar responsive to pressure sensor data received from the microcontroller;
• and
• displaying on a display device communicatively coupled to the computer workstation, the avatar and stored video of the play therapy session wherein the modification of the visual representation of the avatar responsive to pressure sensor data is synchronized with the stored video.

A method of providing play therapy analytics, the method comprising the steps of:

• securing a microcontroller inside a physical toy, the microcontroller having an embedded operating system reading stored instructions to execute functions and procedures according to computer-readable code;
• powering the microcontroller with a battery secured inside the physical toy;
• positioning a plurality of pressure sensors underneath the surface of the physical toy, the sensors communicatively coupled to the microcontroller through an input/output (I/O) connection, the pressure sensors detecting force imparted upon the sensor measured by resistance drop to electrical current running through each sensor, each sensor connected through a dedicated I/O connection wherein the microcontroller contains instructions to poll the plurality of pressure sensors for a value representative of electrical resistance;
• affixing an accelerometer inside the physical toy, the accelerometer communicatively coupled to the microcontroller through another dedicated I/O connection whereby gravitational forces imparted on the physical toy are sensed and communicated to the microcontroller;
• affixing a transceiver inside the physical toy, the transceiver communicatively coupled to the microcontroller and configured to transmit data collected by the pressure sensors and accelerometer to an external transceiver;
• providing a computing device having a processor and computer-readable memory storing software for executing functions and procedures on the processor;
• providing a digital camera capturing video of a play therapy session including at least one child interacting with the physical toy, the digital camera encoding an audiovisual stream into a storage device as stored video accessible by the computing device;
• connecting the computing device to the external transceiver, the external transceiver receiving timecoded accelerometer and pressure sensor data from the microcontroller in the physical toy during the play therapy session;
• providing computer readable instructions in the computing device for generating a graphic avatar representation of the physical toy and modifying the visual representation of the avatar responsive to pressure sensor data received from the microcontroller;
• and
• displaying on a display device communicatively coupled to the computing device, the avatar and stored video of the play therapy session wherein the modification of the visual representation of the avatar responsive to pressure sensor data is synchronized with the stored video whereby a heatmap of pressure sensor data is represented visually on the avatar.