An interdisciplinary group of researchers at the MIT Media Laboratory proposes to envision and conceive playground activities for the 21st century. The playground fulfills a central role in children's lives because it represents an island of freedom within their everyday experience. In an attempt to capture the strength of time-tested playground installations and emerging, popular interactive exhibits, we designed a simple prototype for exploring the problem space of outdoor playgrounds in the digital era. The interactive pathway consists of two separate path sections. Each path section is composed of two wooden slates with a series of five pressure-sensitive mats attached to the wood at a distance that is approximately the length of a 4 year-old’s gait. Each mat has a motor attached to the wood next to it. When a child steps on a mat the associated motor spins. When a child walks or runs through the pathway, the motors spin one-by-one accompanying the child on her journey.

The prototype uses a mixture of custom-made and commercially available materials. A 20 MHz PIC16F876 microcontroller is mounted on a dedicated printed-circuitboard that handles power distribution, local processing, A/D conversion, and motor control. Two 12V batteries power the system. The pressure-sensitive pads are commercially available stair alarm pressure mats. The motors are part of LEGO Mindstorms. LEGO parts form the structure of the spinners.