Luca Fanucci

ElGo – Electronic Goalkeeper: Making Football More Inclusive to People with Motor Impairments

Objective Game is an essential aspect of a child’s life and is a necessary activity for the creation of a gratifying and pleasant relationship towards life and the surrounding world. In general, playing with friends is an important activity at any age. Among games, an important role is played by sports practiced for recreational purpose, e.g. football, basketball, rugby, but for people with disabilities, a direct participation is often too difficult or impossible. Assistive technology has allowed or made more accessible participation to some games to users with disabilities; for example, videogames, but the gap is still very important for real sports. The idea at the base of ElGo is that a person with disabilities, in particular a child or a teenager, can live the game of football thanks to the possibility of controlling an electromechanic device having the role of a goalkeeper in a football match.