CANVAS: A Drawing Tool for AR-aided Special Needs Education using Interactive Floor Projection

In this paper, we propose a novel floor projection drawing tool for AR-aided special needs education, called CANVAS, which can be easily used by teachers or practitioners. We propose a method of using floor projection to support the activities of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (ND) by summarizing the used elements of past activities: Positions (Points), Lines, Areas, and Symbols (PLAS method). This PLAS method fulfills the design requirements of the content that can be created on CANVAS, which is a tablet type drawing system. The content is transmitted in realtime to the gym projectors to realize realtime and interactive activities based on the projection of geometric shapes, at the intended place on the floor. Experimental results demonstrate that simple shapes such as circles and lines are sufficient to support cognition and changes in the physical behaviors of children with ND.