MajesTech Training Techlightweight training shoe proposal

by Neha Kulkarni & Jillian BauerPhiladelphia University

kulkarni.neha99@gmail.com, jillianbauer@gmail.com

table of contentsthe challenge, p. 1

overviewchallenges of wearable technology

batting stance theory, p. 2“the perfect swing”signaling to batters

our solution, p. 3 product overviewproduct features

target usersbenefits to user

technical approach: system overview, p. 4hardware placementsystem performance

technical approach: hardware, p. 5-6 3.3v FLORA microcontroller

3.7v lithium ion batteryconductive thread

stainless conductive threadsquare force sensitive resistor

accelerometer/compass sensorvibrating motor disk

technical approach: connections, p. 7hardware connections overview

connections explained

technical approach: programming, p. 8 code overview

applications usedcode descriptions

mobile application, p. 9overviewdesign

mobile application data insights, p. 10-11overview + examples

code descriptionsanalysis of alternatives, p. 12

what was rejectedin an ideal world

glossary of acronyms, p. 13

table of figuresbatting stance theory, p. 2

figure 1

product overview, p. 3figure 2

hardware placement diagram, p. 4figure 3

3.3v FLORA microcontroller, p. 5figure 4

3.7v lithium ion battery, p. 5figure 5

stainless conductive thread, p. 5figure 6

square force sensitive resistor, p. 6figure 7

accelerometer/compass sensor, p. 6figure 8

vibrating motor disk, p. 6figure 9

hardware connections overview, p. 7figure 10

mobile application overview, p. 9figure 11

mobile application design insights, p. 10-11figures 12-17

the challengeoverview Each year more than 500,000 American students play baseball for their high school and college teams. With only 1,200 total slots on the MLB teams’ active rosters, and the average player’s career lasting for 5.6 years, their chances of going pro are slim.

But every young player can dream—and improve their playing skills with the help of our wearable training technology.

In response to the recent explosion of wearable tech, we’re now proposing the MajesTech Training Tech line, which will offer products that help high school and college athletes improve their performance.

MajesTech’s first product will target the baseball sector with a lightweight training shoe that gives baseball players real-time feedback and data insights on their batting stance. Eventually this training shoe will offer pitching, running, and fielding feedback, too.

challenges of wearable technologyAs the fashion and technology worlds merge to provide something functional but uninvasive to consumers’ fashion and comfort, developing a product that sticks presents many challenges.

While developing our idea, we encountered and addressed the following challenges:

• Bulky Hardware: The available wearable hardware is big and bulky, which is tough to make fashionable and comfortable for the players.

• User Adaptability: Players must adapt to the real-time feedback given by the wearable. They must understand what the signals mean and also become comfortable with receiving them while wearing the hardware, without affecting their performance.

• The “Perfect Swing”: Since there is no “perfect swing,” there is no one algorithm behind what makes a homerun hitter. Each hitter must make adjustments and track their progress against themself.

1

batting stance theorythe “perfect swing”Though there is no “perfect swing,” there are common movements that players make while batting. To determine what the most common gestures are, we studied videos of several homerun hitters such as Albert Pujols, pictured below. The following foot positions were common amongst players who made contact with a pitch:

equal pressure on both feet pressure shifts to back foot, front foot pivots out

front foot lifts, rotates out

pressure shifts to front foot pressure fully shifts to front foot, front foot pivots out

pressure shifts back to both feet

signaling to battersIf batters could be given a signal to tell them when to shift the pressure in their feet, and also to provide feedback on how they’re pivoting throughout their swing, their batting would improve.

figure 1

2

our solution

product overviewOur product is a lightweight training shoe that gives baseball players real-time feedback and detailed data insights on their batting stance. The shoe measures the pressure placed on each foot, and communicates with a vibrating motor in that foot to tell them when they need to apply more pressure during their swing. It also as an accelerometer/compass sensor to track each foot’s position and movement, which feeds into the mobile application to show players their pivoting patterns throughout each of their swings.

product featuresPressure readings in each shoe Real-time vibrating feedbackReal-time foot pivot tracking (mobile app)

target usersOur target users are high school and college baseball players and their batting coaches.

benefitstouserPlayers will be given the opportunity to adjust their feet while playing, which will improve their overall batting stance and lead to better hitting. Players and coaches will also be able to track a player’s pressure and pivoting patterns during their swings using the mobile app.

figure 2

3

technical approach: system overview

system performanceSYSTEM3.3 Volt Flora Microcontroller: 3.3v 150mA

POWER SOURCE3.7V Lithium Ion Polymer Battery:1200mAh for a total of about 4.5 Wh

CONNECTION Stainless Medium Conductive Thread - 3 ply: 0.83 ohm per inch

SENSORSSquare Force-Sensitive Resistor: 38mm square sensing region FLORA Accelerometer/Compass Sensor: 2.16V to 3.6V

FEEDBACKVibrating Mini Motor Disk: 100 mA at 5v

3.7V FLORA microcontroller

3V lithium ion polymer battery

FLORA accelerometer/compass sensor

square force-sensitive resistor

vibrating mini motor disc

hardware placement diagram

figure 3

4

technical approach: hardware3.3vfloramicrocontroller

Our product is powered by Adafruit’s FLORA microcontroller. The FLORA’s lightweight, round design is inobtrusive to the design of the shoe.

3.7v lithium ion battery

The 3.7v battery powers the FLORA microcontroller and all its components.

stainless conductive thread

This connects the FLORA board to all of its components, including the battery, pressure sensors, accelerometer, vibrating motor disk and LED neopixels.

figure 4

figure 5 figure 6

5

technical approach: hardwaresquare FSR (input)

This measures the pressure placed on each foot throughout a player’s swing.

accelerometer (input)

This measures the position of the foot on an x-, y- and z-axis.

vibrating motor disk (output)

This vibrates on the side of the shoe when a player needs to switch the pressure in their feet during a swing.

figure 9

figure 7 figure 8

6

technical approach: connections

battery connectionHere we’ve connected the battery to the bottom of the FLORA microcontroller.

accelerometer/compass connectionFor the accelerometer/compass, we have used conductive thread to connect the FLORA microcontroller to the accelerometer. The conductive thread directly connects the FLORA microcontroller’s GND, 3.3V, SDA and SCL to the FLORA accelerometer’s GND, 3.3V, SDA and SCL.

FSR connectionFor the FSR connection, we’ve connected one of the FSR’s jumper’s to the 3.3V on the FLORA microcontroller. The FSR’s other jumper is connected to a 1k resistor, which connects on one end to GND and the other end to DIGITAL.

vibrating mini motor discFor the vibrating mini motor disc, we’ve connected the disc’s GND and 3.3V directly to the FLORA microcontroller’s GND and 3.3V.

hardware connections overview

connections explainedfigure 10

7

technical approach: programmingcode overviewWe will use a combination of the C++ and Java programming languages to program our hardware and mobile application.

applications used We will use the following libraries/applications to write our code: Adafruit Arduino 1.0.5 2Processing 2.1.1

3rd party code usedhttp://www.arduino.cc/http://processing.org/reference/libraries/https://learn.adafruit.com/force-sensitive-resistor-fsr/using-an-fsrhttps://learn.adafruit.com/flora-accelerometer/programming

code descriptionsFLORA microcontroller + pressure sensor + vibrating motor disc codeThe FLORA collects pressure readings through the FSR from each foot and communicates with the vibrating mini motor disk when pressure needs to be switched from one foot to another.

To achieve this, we wrote an if statement that states that if the pressure is above a certain threshold after a certain amount of pressure is applied after a certain amount of time, the vibrating mini motor disc will vibrate to indicate that the player must switch the pressure in their feet in order to turn off the vibrating sensor. Once the pressure is switched, the vibrating mini motor disc stops vibrating.

The pressure sensors also collect data and store the numbers as variables, which are then drawn in Processing to reflect pressure patterns during each player’s swing.

FLORA microcontroller + accelerometer/compassThe FLORA also collects the foot’s movements through the FLORA accelerometer/compass sensor, on an x-, y- and z-axis. This data shows the angle at which a player is pivoting his foot (via the compass), and also when a player tilts his foot to the left or the right.

We collected the x-, y- and z-axis data from the accelerometer and stored it in the form of variables. Then, using shapes and images, we redrew the data in Procesisng to create a real-time foot pivot tracker, and also a graph that shows a player’s foot tilt to the left or right.

8

output: mobile application design

design overviewWe used Majestic’s blue and red for inspiration, and modified those colors’ saturation to create a brighter, updated palette for the mobile application. All fonts used were variations of Helvetica Neue at different weights, which is legible at most sizes on smart phones and tablet devices. The background color of the application is white and light blue, which creates contrast against the bright colors we’ve chosen for our palette, with the exception of the bottom menu panel, which is black.

mobile application overviewThe mobile application’s target users are both players and coaches looking to improve their batting stance.

figure 11

9

output: mobile app. data insights

pressure applied

time

in se

cond

s

pressure applied over time

pressure applied

time

in se

cond

s

pressure applied over time

pressure distribution total pressure applied

data visualization overviewThe application’s visualizations will look like the following examples:

figure 12 figure 13

figure 14 figure 15 10

output: mobile app. data insightsreal-time foot pivot tracking real-time foot pivot + lift tracking

code descriptionWe will use Processing 2.1.1 to visualize the data collected from our hardware.

pressure visualizationsThe data from the pressure sensor is collected as integers ranging from about 0 to 1200, depending on how much pressure is applied.

We will create an if statement to tell processing that if the pressure is greater than 0, it must draw a vertical rectangle that corresponds with that integer’s position on the y-axis of the Processing sketch. It will redraw every second to give the user real-time feedback on their foot pressure throughout their swing. When it redraws, the position of the rectangle on the x-axis will move to the right of its previous position.

pivot visualizationsThe data from the accelerometer is collected as x-, y- and z- integers that represent the foot’s position on each of those axises.

We will draw a background with a representation of degrees. We will create an if statement that states if the root rotates to the right or left of its original position, then the shape we’ve created to represent the foot will rotate at that angle. It will redraw constantly to reflect the real-time motion of the player’s foot.

figure 16 figure 17

11

analysis of alternatives/product potentialoverviewMost of our ideas were out of the question due to lack of time and resources. Other ideas were rejected because they did not fit the fashion requirements for this project.

what was rejectedFirst, we rejected the shirt as a garment due to the size and the weight of the hardware. Shoes offer more opportunities to hide the hardware and prevent the hardware from being uncomfortable for the players to wear.

if we had more time...additional pressure/vibrating sensorsFirst we would like to add a second pressure sensor and vibrating motor disc to each shoe. Ideally, there would be a pressure sensor in the ball and the heal of each foot, which would interact with a vibrating motor disc in the front and back of each foot. This would signal to players when to shift the pressure from one end of their foot to the other.

distance sensor Next, we’d like to add a distance sensor on the side of each shoe, with each distance sensor facing the other. This would measure how far apart a player’s feet are, and provide a batting stance width.

LED battery status indicatorWe’d also like to add an LED to the outside of the shoe that shows players when the device needs to be recharged.

bluetooth mobile appMost importantly of all, we would like to build a proper mobile application that would immediately send the data captured from the sensors back to the app for the players and coaches to view. If we had the opportunity to develop the mobile app, we would also make use of Bluetooth to connect the mobile app to the sensors located in the shoe. The mobile application would then spit out real-time visualizations showing the players their batting stance patterns. We would create one visualization on the application that shows the angles and balance of the player, which could help him figure out his mistakes and correct them.

expanded target audienceWith more time, the mobile application could angle the same data captured in other ways to give players insights on their overall batting stance, running, fielding and pitching.

12

glossary of acronyms

13

FSR Force Sensitive Resistor

GND Ground

LED Light Emitting Diode

mAMilliamp

mAhMilliampere-hour

SCLStructural Composite Lumber

SDA Strand Displacement Amplification

VVolts

VBATT Vehicle Battery Voltage

WhWatthour