A device that transforms old exercise bikes or ellipticals into a wireless gamepad, creating a fun and healthy gaming experience.
WHAT IT DOES
A modular set that can be attached to any exercise bike, enabling users to engage in online games while working out. By combining fitness and gaming, we provide an immersive and enjoyable experience for users, promoting active lifestyles and motivation.
INSPIRATION
Inspired by the lack of physical activity during the pandemic, I decided to transform an old exercise bike into a wireless gamepad. “Exercise can be boring, and I found myself preferring video games over exercising. That’s when the idea struck me – why not combine the two?”. A quick search showed me systems that could do the same but at a very high cost. To reduce the cost and make things more accessible, a modular set was ideated that could be attached to any low-cost existing exercise bike, elliptical, or pedal.
HOW IT WORKS
Detection of the pedal rotation is done using a Time of Flight-based laser sensing device, which attaches to the exercise bike housing. A USB dongle device attaches to the gaming system either a laptop or an Android device and receives signals from the pedal sensor. To perform other in-game interactions such as steering a car, computer vision along with accelerometer-based movement detection is also used. The Sensible gaming system can work with any computer game and gamepad-supported Android games, an initial button mapping setup has to be performed that translates exercise bike pedals into gamepad button presses. But for the best exercise and gameplay experience we have custom games for the sensible gaming platform, these also have multiplayer challenges to give an exciting competitive gameplay element.
AWARDS
2nd Prize winner in Autodesk Instructables Remote control contest.
RECOGNITION
DESIGN PROCESS
When comes to exercising and staying fit the lack of motivation is a primary concern. The same issue was also raised while interacting with regular gym goers as well a survey was conducted for the general public. Also, most people welcomed the idea of gamifying the process of exercise. The MVP was built by hacking an existing exercise bike, this involved tapping into the bike’s internal sensors such as the Hall effect sensor which measured the pedal rotation. To implement steering and other in-game interactions, the metal heart rate sensing pads were converted to touch inputs. The MVP worked well with general racing games, but aspects of the user experience and exercise routines could be improved by designing a custom game that was more suited for pedaling and also the involvement of upper body exercise. This along with a multiplayer experience could greatly improve motivation along with the enjoyment aspect. The next iteration focused on building a device that could be easily attached to any exercise bike / elliptical and turn it into a gaming interface. The sensible gaming system is designed to be a low-cost accessory to existing bikes and ellipticals to make them connected to online platforms of games, competitive challenges, and leaderboards.
HOW IT IS DIFFERENT
All of the current systems are expensive and require the user to pay a subscription to access their platform (such as Peloton), they allow the user to bike through virtual scenery displayed on a screen along with live exercise routines as opposed to playing games with friends. Other exercise bike gameplay systems only limit the user to pedaling and there is no other body movement involved in the gameplay experience. As opposed to the existing systems, sensible gaming is designed to be a modular gaming device that can be attached to any exercise bike / elliptical ranging from 30$ pedals to 1000$ bikes and uses upper body movement to interact with the game.
Contributor:
- Josh Elias Joy
Josh Elias Joy 