Please vote for this in the fitness challenge
instead of a Fitbit or a smartwatch, you can build an Arduino powered fitness tracker for only $15! It tracks the pumping motion of your arms while running and uses an accelerometer to detect this. It is powered by an Arduino Nano and displays the unit that you want to track on a 2×16 screen. You can use miles, kilometers, meters, yards, or anything that you could think of. It also displays steps! You will need a 3D printer for this project because we are printing on fabric for the band. The fabric is tulle fabric and is lightweight and is basically a mesh.
Advantages
- The price
- It has a display on it
- 18 hours of battery life
Disadvantages
- The size
- Not on your wrist
- Doesn’t connect to your phone
Step 1: Printing the Parts
You can print the .stl files included or you can order them on shape ways. No supports are needed and I used PLA, although any hard material is fine.
Step 2: Getting the Parts
Accelerometer: https://www.adafruit.com/product/2809 $4.95
Display: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Nano-V3-0-Mini-US… $3.15
Arduino: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/MINI-USB-NANO-V3-… $2.78
Powerbank: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/wopow-Portable-ke… $5.12
Tulle Fabric (Or any thin fabric, preferably tulle)
Jumper wires (It is STRONGLY recommended that you have female to male jumper wires)
Breadboard
Wire-stripper
Electrical Tape
Scissors
Soldering Iron
Arduino Software: https://www.arduino.cc/en/main/software
To save you the math, it will cost $16. I already had tulle fabric but if you don’t, https://www.amazon.com/Spool-Wide-White-Tulle-Net…
Step 3: Coding the Arduino
Step 4: Calibrating the Arduino
Now, go to a place that has a very long area that you can run in. Take a piece of tape and place it in front of your toes. This is your starting position. Briskly walk for 5 pumps on either your left or your right arm (NOT BOTH ARMS, as that would be 10 pumps). A pump is when you move your arm back and forth. Place a piece of tape in front of your toes. Go back to the starting point and jog for 5 pumps on either your left or your right arm. Place a piece of tape in front of your toes. Finally, run for 5 pumps from your starting position and place a piece of tape in front of your toes. Get a measuring tape and measure each distance and record that. Divide each result by 5. Then, find how many steps are in 1 pump. Find the average of only the 5 pump values and not the step value and place it in the code where it says “your average distance and steps”.
Step 5: Soldering Everything
Step 6: Putting It Together
Step 7: Putting It in Your Pocket and Charging Up Your Powerbank.
Step 8: Enjoy!
You are now done! Go ahead and test it out and post any questions in the comments. I will do my best to answer them. If it is not working, go to the troubleshooting page.
Read more: Aerobic Arduino – a $15 Fitness Tracker Power by an Arduino