A smart sleeve that senses and provides qualitative and quantitative feedback on exercise repetitions.
BIOMECHANICS | WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY
Industrial Design, UX Design
ACADEMIC PROJECT AT NID
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GUIDES: DR.JIGNESH KHAKHAR, MAYUKHINI PANDE
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Context
In most strength-based workout competitions, repetitions are counted manually by judges. In many cases, judges get distracted and do not assign a score accurately for every lift. Transparency, accountability and equality are the bedrock on which all sporting events should be orchestrated. For many athletes, counting accuracy and repetition quality are often difficult aspects of training to master.
​Most workout competitions require athletes to be physically present at the venue. The need to travel to a different state or country reduces the number of athletes participating. Lack of accountability is one of the major reasons why most competitions are not held online.
THE EXISTING SITUATION
Repetitions are counted manually by judges as well as athletes.
How might we make counting and assessing the quality of exercise repetitions easier for competition judges as well as athletes?
Areas of inquiry
Research methodology
• Literature study
• Observational study
• Personal interviews
• Online surveys
An end-to end study was conducted, all the way from physiotherapy to sports. Within sports, a variety of stakeholders-from beginners, recreational athletes to state, national and world champions, judges and trainers were spoken to, to understand their training and competition requirements. I explored the relationship between the elements of technique and form in sports, and judging at the competition level.
I also looked at the field of physiotherapy to understand the tools and methods used to assess form during online and offline sessions. Physiotherapists helped me understand the different methods used to measure metrics like Range of motion and its criticality as compared to ROM in sports.
45%
of the respondents said they prefer working out alone.
Survey responses: 40
​
​​
Better focus,
Peace of mind,
Privacy & comfort
Self-motivation.
40%
said they prefer working out at a gym, in a group or
with a gym buddy.
Survey responses: 40​
15%
said they prefer working-out outdoors..
Survey responses: 40
​
12 respondents said they do not like working out
Uncomfortable exercising in public
Lack of motivation
Demotivation
​​
Immediate feedback
Motivation
Accountability
Energetic atmosphere,
Availability of equipment.
..the pandemic has made way for a hybrid approach to fitness one which was unforeseeable prior to the March 2020.
Financial express
(Gym V/s Online Fitness Apps: What is the future? Experts speak)
...people are looking at fitness a lot more seriously now than ever before – and they are turning to digital modes for this. Hence, this is an opportunity for AI-powered services to add a higher degree of customization based on data at their disposal.
Ankit Gupta Head of product and engineering at Cult.fit
The future of sports is moving toward enabling users to work out from the comfort of their home, the gym, outdoors, or through hybrid plans.
Key insights
• Secondary Research
• Primary Research
Subjective nature of scoring
Trainers and judges have difficulty evaluating every single aspect of complex movements due to differences in anatomy, noisy environments.
Posture evaluation
Most gym goers relied on the trainer, a mirror or recorded a video. Small screen size of phones makes it difficult to evaluate posture.
No posture correction during pandemic
During the pandemic, both gym goers and those working out at home said there was no one to correct posture.
Counting
Most people count in their head, or a trainer/workout buddy counts for them.
COUNTING
WHY is counting critical?
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• Building speed
Ability to recollect previous rep count and increase numbers
• Better accountability
Is the athlete pushing their limits
• Documentation
How much the athlete has improved over time and how much more they can push.
• Objective judging
Prevent unfair advantage due to human-error​​
​WHEN is counting critical?
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• Building endurance
Exercising with lighter weights and high rep count
• Competition scenario
To maintain objectivity of judging.
• New movements
Challenge when form is not worked out
• High-rep count
Boredom and distraction while counting
• High intensity workout
Cognitive overload
• Dyscalculia
Weak mental arithmetic skills and poor sense of numbers & estimation.
QUALITATIVE FEEDBACK
WHY is qualitative feedback critical?
​
• Posture evaluation
Help identify and correct incorrect posture
• Prevent injury
Ensuring correct technique and form
• Objective judging
Prevent unfair advantage due to human- error
• Difficulty identifying full extension
Prevent unfair advantage due to human- error
​WHEN is qualitative feedback critical?
​
• New movement
Form correction while learning a new movement.
• Competition scenario
To maintain objectivity of judging.
• Build muscle endurance/strength/hypertrophy
Slow or fast movement based on phase
Preferred
situation
Interaction with experts led me to understand that what is required is a solution that would help athletes perfect technique during the training stage itself. A solution for the competition level wasn't ideal at this point because of the subjectivity required at different competition levels.
Redefined design brief
How might we make counting and assessing the quality of exercise repetitions easier?
Context and Target user
Who?
Beginner-Amateur athletes
When?
Remote sessions
Virtual training
Why?
Data criticality/accuracy: Medium
Sports or exercises where ROM (elbow & knee) and count are important.
Brainstorming and ideation
Initial concepts
Computer-vision based device that recognizes correct reps and displays the count.
Red and green lights indicate correct or incorrect reps in real-time.
IMU based wearable that recognizes correct reps and displays the count on each band.
Red and green lights indicate correct or incorrect reps in real-time.
Mount it on a wall or use the tripod to place it on the ground or at a height in the park.
A smart- sleeve that senses and provides qualitative and quantitative feedback on exercise repetitions.
Solution
Functioning of the sleeve
Features
Count
Actively counts your repetition and time taken.
Motivate
Pushes you to go the extra mile and encourages you to do it right.
Feedback
Instant audio feedback.
Progress
Documents how much you’ve improved over time.
Experience OR Curate your own session.
Put on the Worqua band and a pair of earphones.
Start your workout at the lawn or gym or at home. Workout UNCHAINED!
Worqua sleeve is an easy-to-use wearable that works for any type of exercise that involves extension and flexion of the elbow or knee.
It acts as an assistant for virtual training and provides an experience close to trainer-conducted sessions.
It analyses body kinematics and shows progress when progress is not visible to the naked eye.
Instantaneous audio feedback through headphones on the number of repetitions, the quality of form, and time taken provide consistent motivation.
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Inspires you to beat your past performance or compete with friends around the globe.
Functional
Prototype
The Process
“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” - HA Simon
