Adriano Di Palma - 309237807

Bicep Burner – Final Report

Bicep Burner is an automated fitness tracking device, developed using Arduino, Processing and the

Android SDK. Bicep Burner aims to guide users through a strict bicep barbell curl workout -

automatically keeping track of the repetitions and sets performed, eliminating the need for notebooks

or pen and paper tracking. Bicep Burner acts very much like a ‘Virtual Personal Trainer’ ensuring that

the user performs the exercise properly and for maximal results, as well as providing feedback to the

user post-workout on how they performed.

Bicep Burner was developed out of the observation that traditional paper methods for tracking weight

lifting progress are simply too tedious and out-dated to be viable for long-term use - quite an ironic fact

when you consider that weight lifting results are indeed a long-term pursuit. I believe that there is a

significant gap in this area for technology to enhance people’s lives and make the act of tracking weight

lifting results easier and more effective.

The market of personal fitness tracking devices has already shown great potential with 2 stand out

devices, namely ‘NewYu’ and ‘FitBit’ tracking users daily caloric expenditure automatically. Apple also

recently acquired patents for automated fitness tracking functionality for their future devices. It is clear

that these new devices & patents, along with a booming health & fitness industry, indicate a great

potential for growth in this area along with a clear niche for devices targeted specifically at muscle gain.

The core functionality of Bicep Burner is of course to count repetitions (which it does very well) but

much more importantly, Bicep Burner is grounded in the principles of safe and effective muscle building.

Studies show that a slow and controlled cadence when performing an exercise puts more stress on the

muscle fibers and results in a higher TUT (Time Under Tension), resulting in much better gains in size and

strength than if performed quickly -

“Significantly, the slow lifters gained more strength than the regular-speed lifters -- by 50

percent!....the impressive difference was because going slow takes the momentum out of lifting

and exhausts more muscle fibers.” (Wayne Westcott, 1999)

In addition, taking the muscles through a full ROM (Range Of Motion) (i.e. lifting the weight all the way

up and back down) also increases TUT and muscle fiber activation.

My initial project idea involved tracking a variety of exercises, however, through my project

development and research I decided that tracking a single exercise and doing it well would provide a

much better representation of the capabilities of such a device and was more realistic in the scope and

time frame of the project. In addition, several apps on the ‘Android Market’ which are targeted at

proficiency in a single exercise have shown great success, in particular the ‘Pushups’ app which boasts

between 1 and 5 million installations.

One of the main design problems I was faced with was whether the device should be attached to/

integrated with the exercise equipment or simply worn by the user. In keeping a wider view on the uses

of such a product I made the design choice to create a wearable device, for several reasons:

• Protecting the device from shock/damage

• Allowing the tracking of multiple exercises with a single device (cost & convenience)

• Allowing the tracking of bodyweight exercises such as pushups where no equipment is involved

• Loss prevention

• Minimizing cost – replacing/modifying existing gym equipment could be very expensive and a

huge barrier to commercial success

For the scope of this project the user simply attaches the device to their forearm. If the product was to

be developed further, a single application could track multiple exercises and prompt the user on what

part of the body to attach the device to, depending on the exercise (multiple devices may be needed for

certain exercises). Personal trainers would be able to increase their work capacity exponentially by

providing remote assistance based of automatically tracked data, rather than having to physically be

there in person with clients. Creators of exercise programs could just as easily push their programmes

through such a system and increase the usefulness of their products - the potential for further

development of such a product is huge.

The first step in creating my prototype was getting a working system whereby Arduino could

communicate with my Android phone. I achieved this after much research by using processing as an

intermediary and connecting my phone to my computer via Bluetooth, hence giving me a serial

connection to receive data from processing.

The next breakthrough in my project came after struggling to get a clear reading during movement (I

was tracking the Z-axis - Up & Down). After much fruitless research, experimentation and doubt as to

wether an accelerometer was right for the job, I organized a meeting with an electrical engineer working

in the field. We discussed the project at length and realized that when performing a bicep curl, the

orientation of your hand changes 180 degrees from top to bottom, the exact type of movement an

accelerometer is designed to detect! I simply needed to place the accelerometer in the correct

orientation and I was immediately able to get a useful reading -

After these first 2 milestones, I had the main ‘guts’ of my prototype in working order and proceeded to

develop the Android Application as well as work on smoothing out the signal to avoid erratic and jerky

readings (development of the prototype is further detailed in the supporting documentation).

Final Prototype: