So far so good, I’m pretty happy with the Internet of My Things (IoMT) as I got my wearable devices, and a smartphone packed with sensors through good fitness apps installed within. I’d been able to visualize it on a PowerMap. But my curiosity expands because wouldn’t it be good if I could “make” my own thing? I’d been reading, watching and hearing a lot about enthusiast DIY projects which are about programming your own electronics board. Sounds like a whole lot of fun. I’d been hearing Arduino, Raspberry Pi, Intel Galileo (I found out about the free giveaway board at Windows Developer Program for IoT a tad bit too late). So before I plunk in $50 of my hard-earned savings into a board, I must make sure I have the right board for my GetFitY’all project extensions. This article sums it up pretty well.
At this point, I’m more inclined towards a Raspberry Pi B+ board, but then there would be external sensors that I need to buy. Perhaps more important than this is I’m also thinking what would be a good extension to my project. Here are some of my initial ideas:
- Extend from the world’s smartest bike light project. You can read about it here. When I ride it’s less about the speed, but more about watching my heart beat rate (HBR) so that it doesn’t exceed the so-called maximum HBR for my age which is a simple calculation of 220 – my age. There are other methods to calculate this but I usually set my max to be around 180, have some safe buffer just in case. I want to enjoy biking a lot longer than fainting and potentially killing myself faster, that’s one thought, though there are other reasons that could harm myself too. Other indicators that I like to see is elevation, and it would be good to find out how much I had climbed since the last moment that I almost gave up and wanted to just get off my bike to push. Knowing how much higher I’d climbed would be a good encouragement for me to continue pedaling to the top.
- Have my board programmed to automatically alert my family that I’d finished my ride and that I’m riding or driving home, including ETA. If it’s winter, it may be good to get that heater warming the bathroom so that it’s all nice and warm when I take my shower or a hot tub bath. 🙂
- Project turn-by-turn navigation on the ground as when I bike. But then this really works when I’m navigating at night, doesn’t it? So not too sure how practical this is yet.
Let’s pause for a while here while I gather more thoughts about the ideas and what seems more practical and fun to extend Project GetFitY’all!