Previous works have shown the potential of immersive technologies to make physical activities a more engaging experience. With encountered-type haptic feedback, users can perceive a more realistic sensation for exertion interaction in substitutions reality. Although substitutional reality has utilized physical environments, props, and devices to provide encountered-type haptic feedback, these cannot withstand the fierce force of humans and do not give feedback when users move around simultaneously, such as in combat sports. In this work, we present Hit Around, a substitutional moving robot for immersive and exertion interaction, in which the user can move and punch the virtual opponent and perceive encountered-type haptic feedback anywhere. We gathered insight into immersive exertion interaction from three exhibitions with iterative prototypes, then designed and implemented the hardware system and application. To understand the ability of mobility and weight loading, we conducted two technical evaluations and a laboratory experiment to validate the feasibility. Finally, a field deployment study explored the limitations and challenges of developing immersive exertion interaction with encountered-type haptics.

Wei-Hsin Yeh, Yu-An Su, Chih-Ning Chen, Yi-Hsueh Lin, Calvin Ku, Wen-Hsin Chiu, Min-Chun Hu, Lun-Wei Ku. Proceedings of the 63rd Annual Meeting of the Association for Computational Linguistics (Volume 1: Long Papers). 2025.

E-sports events have become more popular. In the Olympics Esports Series, ten items were included in the official competition; four were exergames, and only one implemented extended reality (XR). However, there are no games that apply the encountered-type haptic feedback with exertion interaction. Also, these esports games are only broadcast on screen, resulting in a lack of sense of presence in the virtual world. In our work, we introduce Metapunch X, an encountered-type haptic feedback esports game that integrates exertion interaction in XR with multi-screen spectating. The game is designed as an asymmetric competition, utilizing an XR head-mounted display (HMD) and a substitutional reality robot to create an esports experience with encountered-type haptic feedback. To enhance the audiences’ experience, in addition to the third-person perspective broadcast, we provide 360-degree live streaming available on mobile devices and virtual reality (VR) HMD, allowing audiences to immerse themselves in the virtual environment and experience the competition as if they were personally present at the venue and feel like engaging in a multiverse.

In this work, we demonstrate a simple and sensitive parallel-plate capacitive pressure sensor fabricated on biocompatible, weather durable, elastic composite silicone and polyurethane substrate with porous polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) dielectric made through a mixture of water as spacers. This sensor comprised a graphene electrode, which was developed through novel chemical vapor deposition on copper with hot press transfer process. The sensitivity of the sensor exhibits a positive correlation with the dielectric porosity. In addition, this device exhibits fast response time and wide dynamic window for applications. The highest sensitivity of 3.01 kPa ⁻¹ at 20% water concentration in PDMS for the dynamic range of 0–40 kPa was achieved with a response time of 0.25 s and detection resolution of 0.4 pF.

Punch velocity is a key performance indicator in boxing and reflects effective coordination along the kinetic chain. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between punch acceleration and plantar pressure distribution using wearable sensing technologies. Twenty-four collegiate boxers (12 professional-level and 12 amateur-level athletes) performed jab and cross punches under controlled conditions. Punch acceleration was measured using a glove-mounted inertial measurement unit (IMU), while plantar pressure distribution was recorded using pressure-sensing insoles. Professional boxers demonstrated significantly higher punch acceleration (22–31%, p < 0.05) and greater forefoot plantar pressure (18–27%, p < 0.05) compared to amateur athletes. Correlation analysis revealed significant positive associations between forefoot pressure and punch acceleration (r = 0.62–0.71, p < 0.01), indicating that increased lower-limb force contributes to higher upper-limb striking performance. These findings demonstrate that combined wearable sensing provides a practical approach for quantifying punching biomechanics and identifying level-dependent kinetic-chain characteristics in boxing.

The effectiveness of instructional information is crucial to enhancing motor learning outcomes. However, few studies have explored the mechanisms of augmented attention-guiding dual-sensory information. Based on the spatiotemporal dimensions of movement staging and movement limb segments, the current study analyzed how guided dual-sensory information affects learning a basketball set shot. A teaching experiment involving 132 middle school students was used to analyze three instructional methods: visual-only (video), visual–auditory (video with narration), and guided dual-sensory information with visual cues (video with narration and markers). Participants learned set shooting over three weeks. The results revealed that (1) All three groups (visual-only, dual-sensory, and dual-sensory with visual markers) exhibited improved movement result performance after training, with the group receiving guided dual-sensory instruction exhibiting substantially superior posttest movement result performance than the group receiving video alone. (2) audiovisual (dual-sensory) information considerably enhanced movement pattern performance, and dual-sensory information with additional visual markers strengthened movement pattern retention and optimized upper-limb movement pattern performance during the preparation stage. (3) Both the group receiving video with narration and the group receiving guided dual-sensory instruction exhibited substantial improvements in motor cognition, with the dual-sensory information with visual cues associated with the strongest facilitation effect on upper-limb cognition during the execution stage. These results reveal that guided dual-sensory information substantially enhances motor learning outcomes in basketball shooting, with required movement guidance of the upper-limb segments being greater than that for other body segments. The findings indicate that for digital instruction in physical education, instruction should include strategically employed guided attention methods and multidimensional combinations of information presentation. This study provides a novel perspective on motor learning and a spatiotemporal framework for understanding the learning process.