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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.

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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

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​​

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 

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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?

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• 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?

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• 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

Benefits

The Process

“Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” - HA Simon

EXISTING SITUATION

PREFFERRED SITUATION

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