benchbuddy
2019
This was a wearable project that was completed in less than a week for a human centered design class. Although it is admittedly a rough exterior, the technology and use case implemented within a few days make this an impressive feat. After soldering components to a flora micro-controller, I coded an Arduino program implementing a Neopixel ring, pressure resistor, and a piezo buzzer to create a safety system for individual gym-goers.
The idea stems from those that are bench pressing without a spotter. Should you not be able to lift the bar yourself, it could crush your chest in such a way that prevented you from being able to call for help. This shirt is an alarm system for that scenario.
Check out the concept video!
The system works by "completing the circuit" between the two sheets of conductive fabric sewn into the chest of the shirt. This is done with the metal from the bar used to bench press. The completion is set as a digital input such that as soon as the value becomes "true", a timer begins counting. For the sake of demonstration and proof of concept, our timer was set as 6 seconds (realistically six seconds is far too long to have weight pressing on your chest), with each Neopixel lighting up sequentially after half a second. If 6 seconds is reached, the alarm sounds until the digital input goes "false" i.e. the connection is broken and the bar has been lifted and the code resets.
The chin pad was put in place as a volume control operating under the assumption that if you're pinned by too heavy of a weight, your neck may be the only range of motion that you have. By pressing your chin against the pad, volume increases. For future iterations I would reduce the timer duration and implement conductive thread for a cleaner look.
