StepMan - a new kind of music interaction

The use of mobile music players is very common. While sitting in a subway, at breakfast or even at sporting time people like to be entertained by listening to music. Music expresses our mood and let us move to the rhythm. In the field of sport, joggers do have the problem that rhythm of music often does not fit to the speed and rhythm of their steps while running. This paper describes the StepMan technology which is a new kind of music interaction. Using multiple sensors to measure pace, pulse and other data, the music will be adapted in real time to fit the actual situation of the jogger. The speed of music will be varied without changing the pitch of the sound. In addition, StepMan can be used as a personal trainer which presents music with defined speed, calculated by bio parameters (pulse, calorie consumption, personal training condition etc.) and the runner has to hold the given rhythm. The described work also shows how the StepMan interacts with the user in an ambient manner, using no direct user input but biometrical sensor information and provides a multimodal output. In addition to sports application a further look to present research activities for StepMan are given.