Beyond Passive Monitoring: A Systematic Review of Tangible Interactive Devices that Support Home-Based Physical Activity

Paper Title

Beyond Passive Monitoring: A Systematic Review of Tangible Interactive Devices that Support Home-Based Physical Activity

Publication Info

• Topic area: Tangible interactive devices for promoting physical activity at home.
• Keywords: Tangible interaction, physical activity, home-based exercise, behaviour change techniques, feedback mechanisms, habit formation, embedded systems, wearables, robotics, multisensory feedback.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: Current technologies for promoting home-based physical activity (PA) primarily rely on passive monitoring (e.g., wearables, apps) and lack engaging, motivational elements necessary for sustained behaviour change. There is limited understanding of how tangible devices can effectively support PA and habit formation in home settings.
• Significance: Physical inactivity is a global public health concern, contributing to obesity and chronic diseases. Home-based PA technologies can address barriers such as convenience and accessibility, especially for populations with mobility limitations or sedentary lifestyles.
• Motivation and related work: Previous reviews have focused on software applications, wearable devices, or specific technologies, often emphasizing technical aspects like sensing accuracy. However, these reviews lack insights into device-level characteristics, feedback mechanisms, and behaviour change techniques (BCTs) relevant to habit formation. This paper seeks to address these gaps.

Solution

• Proposed approach: A systematic review of 21 studies on tangible interactive devices for home-based PA, focusing on their design features, feedback mechanisms, and embedded BCTs.
• Novelty:
  1. Consolidated characterization of device and sensor configurations with feedback strategies.
  2. Identification of dominant BCTs (e.g., adding objects to the environment, prompts/cues) and their limited application to habit formation.
  3. Design guidance for home-fit systems, including stationary aerobic micro-routines, layered prompts, and multisensory feedback.
  4. Proposed methods agenda for durable behaviour change.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Systematic identification, screening, and analysis of studies following PRISMA guidelines.
  • Coding of devices across five dimensions: study characteristics, target populations, technology specifications, feedback mechanisms, and BCTs.
  • Thematic analysis of design principles and evaluation approaches.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Embedded systems (48%) dominate, followed by wearables (38%), robotics (14%), and hybrid systems (10%).
  • Feedback is predominantly visual (90%), with audio (57%) and haptic (14%) as secondary modalities.
  • Common feedback triggers include performance deviation (48%), task completion (48%), and scheduled/contextual prompts (33%).
  • BCTs such as adding objects to the environment (80%), feedback on behaviour (67%), and prompts/cues (40%) are frequent, but habit formation techniques are rare.
• Advantage over baselines:
  • Tangible devices demonstrated advantages over video-only approaches in improving physical performance (e.g., walking speed, motor skill acquisition).
  • Users found tangible systems more engaging and motivating than screen-based alternatives.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Studies involved diverse populations (e.g., older adults, children with cerebral palsy) and activities (e.g., strength, balance, walking, dance).
  • Evaluation methods included usability testing, interviews, and quantitative measures (e.g., mobility scores, task completion rates).
  • Most trials were short-term (≤8 weeks), limiting insights into long-term behaviour change.
• Limitations and future work:
  • Limited focus on habit formation and long-term maintenance.
  • Few studies tested device effectiveness after withdrawal or tapering of feedback.
  • Future work should explore distributed systems, layered feedback, and privacy considerations in multi-user households.

Summary

This systematic review highlights the potential of tangible interactive devices to support home-based physical activity by embedding feedback and behaviour change techniques into everyday routines. Embedded systems dominate due to their alignment with domestic constraints, while feedback mechanisms focus on real-time guidance with limited support for habit formation. The review identifies gaps in addressing long-term behaviour change and proposes design priorities such as layered feedback, multisensory interaction, and distributed device ecologies. These insights aim to move beyond passive monitoring toward systems that integrate seamlessly into home environments and promote sustainable physical activity habits.