Owen develops video game to teach land mine avoidance

A group of faculty and students at Michigan State University have developed a new video game that they hope will help children and others in war-torn countries avoid death and injury from unexploded land mines and other explosives. Unexploded ordinance (UXOs) kill or injure as many as 20,000 people per year. This new game, call Undercover UXO, runs on the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) and teaches children to recognize warning signs that an explosive device may be nearby.

The project is ongoing by Dr. Charles B. Owen, associate professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and Drs. Corey Bohil and Frank Biocca in the Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media. The game will be field tested in Cambodia in May, 2010. An initial prototype was developed by students in the Collaborative Game Design capstone course and work continues to refine the prototype prior to testing. The project is in collaboration with the Golden West Foundation and is funded by the US State Department.