A new game called Rope Revolution developed by graduate student Lining Yao and colleagues at MIT uses an augmented-reality rope to allow players to fly a kite, ride a horse, or skip with a partner across the globe, New Scientist TV reports.

The rope controller recognizes various gestures, using a sensor in the wall attachment and an accelerometer built into the rope handle. For the kite flying game, the sensor is key to determining the position of the rope within the space, whereas the accelerometer is more important for jump rope to identify rotational motion. The system also generates rope resistance to make the virtual experience feel lifelike.