In a typical yoga class, students watch an instructor¹ to learn how to properly hold a position. But for people who are blind or can't see well, it can be frustrating² to participate in these types of exercises. Now, a team of University of Washington computer scientists has created a software program that watches a user's movements and gives spoken feedback on what to change to accurately³ complete a yoga pose.

 

"My hope for this technology is for people who are blind or low-vision to be able to try it out, and help give a basic understanding of yoga in a more comfortable setting," said project lead Kyle Rector, a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering.

 

The program, called Eyes-Free Yoga, uses Microsoft Kinect software to track body movements and offer auditory feedback in real time for six yoga poses, including Warrior⁴ I and II, Tree and Chair poses. Rector and her collaborators published their methodology（方法学） in the conference proceedings⁵ of the Association for Computing⁶ Machinery's SIGACCESS International Conference on Computers and Accessibility in Bellevue, Wash., Oct. 21-23.

 

Rector wrote programming code that instructs the Kinect to read a user's body angles, then gives verbal feedback on how to adjust his or her arms, legs, neck or back to complete the pose. For example, the program might say: "Rotate your shoulders left," or "Lean sideways toward your left."

 

The result is an accessible yoga "exergame" -- a video game used for exercise -- that allows people without sight to interact verbally with a simulated yoga instructor. Rector and collaborators Julie Kientz, a UW assistant professor in Computer Science & Engineering and in Human Centered Design & Engineering, and Cynthia Bennett, a research assistant in computer science and engineering, believe this can transform a typically visual activity into something that blind people can also enjoy.

 

"I see this as a good way of helping⁷ people who may not know much about yoga to try something on their own and feel comfortable and confident doing it," Kientz said. "We hope this acts as a gateway⁸ to encouraging people with visual impairments to try exercise on a broader scale."

 

Each of the six poses has about 30 different commands for improvement based on a dozen rules deemed essential for each yoga position. Rector worked with a number of yoga instructors⁹ to put together the criteria¹⁰ for reaching the correct alignment¹¹ in each pose. The Kinect first checks a person's core and suggests alignment（队列，校准） changes, then moves to the head and neck area, and finally the arms and legs. It also gives positive feedback when a person is holding a pose correctly.

 

Rector practiced a lot of yoga as she developed this technology. She tested and tweaked each aspect by deliberately¹² making mistakes while performing the exercises. The result is a program that she believes is robust¹³ and useful for people who are blind.

 

"I tested it all on myself so I felt comfortable having someone else try it," she said.

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