How does Upright Go Posture Trainer work?
Hey friends, Happy Wednesday!
This week we’ll discuss how Smart Posture trainer devices work which is for the 12th episode of the blog post series, Season 1: Wellness Gadgets.
What is a Smart Posture Trainer device?
A good posture depends on both the orientation of the person’s back as well as its curvature. I use a lumbar support pillow with my rolling chair to make sure I’m not slouching and it has worked pretty well for me. But if you’re traveling or using different spaces, you cannot carry a support pillow with you. Or the chair may not have a backrest and you need other methods to make sure you’re not slouching. If you want to be cautious of your posture always, smart posture trainer devices come in to the picture. Upright Go is a smart gadget that you can stick to your upper back directly on the skin, and it vibrates or can send an alert to your phone when you’re spine posture isn’t acceptable. It’s a smart Posture correction alerting device. We'll see how it works.
I aim to write my newsletter issues in a way one can follow them while traveling on a bus, having a coffee, waiting for food, etc. Let’s jump in!
Conceptualizing the Gadget
I’ll try to step into the shoes of the people who invented this gadget and give you my take on conceptualizing this at a high level. This would then lead to the main idea of how this gadget can be made possible.
Our spine has a natural shape to it, and let’s call this the desired shape. Now, slouching and not maintaining a proper posture means we are bending the spine away from its desired shape and we should be alerted when this happens. Because that’s the primary function of this device. So there are two things we need to do. The first is to attach a device on our spine in the upper back that can detect this change somehow. Secondly, a vibrator that buzzes needs to go into the device to alert us. If the user doesn’t want to be buzzed constantly, the settings can be changed through an app on their phone to send an alert message instead. This app can also be used for tracking the statistics daily. The platform for usage is set, but how do we detect undesirable postures like slouching, etc.?
We are bending our spine and we don’t maintain the right posture. How can we detect this? Traditionally, a strain gauge has been used for the same purpose. The following image might be self-explanatory on how a strain gauge works. The resistance changes when there is a strain and this electrical change is mapped to an amount of bending. Thus, we can detect if we are maintaining the right posture or not!
But wait! What if the user intentionally bends down to pick up something? A strain gauge alone would alert the user after detecting the bending right? But we shouldn’t alert the user and vibrate the device. For this, we can use an accelerometer (which measures acceleration data and orientation). If the orientation changes rapidly, this means the user bent down intentionally & the user is not alerted. Moreover, it can also be used to observe the orientation of the upper back body and make sure our back is straight.
Fig 1: How the strain gauge works
You can read the full blog post which includes the assembly, design & nuances, through the link toward the end of this newsletter.
Gadget of the week
A robot lawnmower: The Husqvarna Automower can mow lawns and can even tackle slopes and narrow passages. The robot has GPS-assisted navigation that is controlled via an app and can be voice-activated. It even predicts the weather conditions to pick the perfect mowing time. It is basically a Roomba vacuum cleaner kind of robot but for lawnmowing.
Blog posts
My full blog post-S1E12 on the Smart Posture Trainer device is out! Read it here, happy learning!
Read how Smart Posture Trainer device works!
I’m thinking of writing about an algorithm for S1E13 unlike today’s episode S1E12 but still trying to decide which one to pick. I came across an algorithm for a fitness watch that can detect if we are washing our hands or not. And other ones were for calculating the sleep rate, water intake, and calorie intake, etc. Let me know if you’d like to read about a specific gadget/device. Thank you for reading.
Have a nice rest of the week, and take care!
Until next Wednesday,
Chendur
