Orangutans at Melbourne Zoo in Australia may just be the envy of gamers, as researchers have developed an Xbox Kinect game exclusively for the orange and brown-colored apes.
The zoo started the project in order to help the apes interact better with visitors, as well as boost the animals' mind and take it off from the worries of captivity, according to The Huffington Post.
An orangutan named Malu is currently the first to test a custom-made game called "Zap," a shape recognition game that zoo keepers already use in training the apes, asking them to identify from a wall, which is a red dot. A correct answer usually means that the ape wins a treat. What's new with the interactive game is that the orangutan and the human visitor should tap on the shape at the same time. The idea is to encourage collaborative play, according to a press release on the University of Melbourne website.
"As interactive game designers we use what we call participatory design. We work with the people who use the products and they provide input and feedback for prototypes. You can't have those conversations with animals, so we have to find new ways to include them as participants in the design process," said Sarah Webber, a PhD candidate working on the project, according to iDigital Times.
This approach and project is the first of its kind, according to researchers from Zoos Victoria and the University of Melbourne's Microsoft Research Centre for Social Natural User Interfaces.
"Zap" is the only available game for Malu and his friends as of this moment, but the research will continue to gather information and create more games that will cater to the different interest and personalities of each orangutan in the zoo.
