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Group 15 Ma Be aN. Foot Pressure Monitoring System for a Speed Skater. Presentation Outline. Possibilities for further improvement Division of labour Self Education – Andrew, Ben, Matthew Schedule / Milestones Budget Line Category analysis Social, Environmental and Enterprise Context
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Group 15MaBeaN Foot Pressure Monitoring System for a Speed Skater
Presentation Outline • Possibilities for further improvement • Division of labour • Self Education – Andrew, Ben, Matthew • Schedule / Milestones • Budget • Line • Category analysis • Social, Environmental and Enterprise Context • Conclusions • Project Objectives • Performance Specifications • Design Details • Hardware: • Parts list • Construction • Software • Information flow • Post-process flow • Results • Assessment of Design Performance • Evaluation of Results
Project Objectives • Improving a system to monitor foot pressure on the soles of speed skaters • Display pressure results alongside skater footage for use as a training tool to club level skaters • Ensure a minimum hindrance to the safety and performance of the speed skater • Skater stats (typical Kingston Striders skater) • Max velocity = 34km/h • Average stride duration = 720ms
Design Details Hardware - Parts List • Arduino Uno – Micro-controller chosen for project, has 6 analog and 16 digital inputs • Xbee Chip – employed for wireless communication • WiFi Shield: Shield designed to extend the Arduino Uno providing wireless capabilities • Dual Axis accelerometer: to determine the initial start of a speed skater • RTC: real time clock to provide a clock time stamp • 4051 Analog multiplexer: accepts the analog inputs of the force sensitive resistors • Resistors and holders: specific to each individual FSR; scaled to provide a scaled force output (components not to scale)
Design Details Hardware – Part List • Tekscan Force Sensitive Resistor (FSR) – used to evaluate the pressure exerted at a given point on the foot • Xbee base station chip: used to enable wireless capabilities of Arduino Uno • Base Station Shield: enables wireless Xbee chip to establish communication between a laptop and the Data Acquisition Pack.
Design Details Software • Information Flowchart FSR resistance Arduino AnalogRead (all 8 sensors) Serial.println To Tx Xbee @ 38400 baud XBeepacketization and Tx Base Station Rx XBee COM Port Serial Buffer @ 38400 baud MATLAB Function WriteCSV Recorded .csv file
Design Details Software • Software Flowchart (Post processing) Loop Input .csv file & skater footage Extract sampling instance, interpolate values Draw sample and capture frame Align time index with skater footage Overlay pressure plot Capture frame Produce final .avi file
Results – Software • Simulation pressure profile video • Compiled from fictional .csv file • Uses MATLAB griddata(‘v4’) function to smoothly interpolate between the eight sensor locations
Possibilities For Further Improvement • Employ the accelerometer for further data acquisition beyond the current application of a trigger to start sending data when a speed skater starts moving • Inclusion of a triple axis accelerometer to measure acceleration in 3 degrees of movement for turn analysis • Separation of scaled resistors to outside the DAQPAC for ease of exchange and to ensure the DAQPAC seals tightly • Use of a rechargeable lithium battery pack system for greater battery life while minimizing the environmental footprint of the unit • Further refinements to the placement and number of sensors in the foot sensor system for greater resolution
Self Education – Matthew McKerroll • Digital and analog inputs work very differently, and both can be used for very different things • Much more can be extracted from resultant data then just pressures at given times, speed can be found as well as other things • A better understanding of circuits and how they interact with parts like processors and small IC’s
Self Education - Ben York • Choosing the best visualization method • Colour blindness • Ease of interpretation for youth audience • Fail fast design • Build a prototype early, learn from it, then move on • Considering transient behaviour of ICs • When trying to maximize the sampling rate, components (i.e. MUX) do not behave instantaneously • Weekly meeting with supervisors • A source of unrivalled brainstorming and suggestions for improvement
Self Education – Andrew Yaworski • Micro-electronics are very approachable;the Arduino platform is a versatile platform to make use with an invaluable open source community • Soldering is an art that is a necessity when working with micro-electronics • The good news: Crazy glue is not conductive; the bad news: Crazy glue is not conductive. • Planning a design project requires more time than the actual project process itself; it is completely true that an engineer spends ½ of the time working, ¼ of the time writing reports and ¼ of the time presenting those reports to keep those involved updated with the current status • Project planning is a necessity. The amount of time spent planning at the beginning of the project is directly proportional to the success of the project and inversely proportional to the work required to complete the project. • Fail fast prototypes are integral to bypassing project bottlenecks
Budget – Category Breakdown • Analysis of the budget provides insight into the limitations due to component cost • FSR Sensors: 33% • Wireless Components: 22% • Peripheral Components: 20 % • Taxes / Shipping: 17% • Microcontroller: 7%
Social, Environmental and Enterprise Context • The device made already exists but can cost more than $10 000 dollars. The one made for this project is meant for the club level of skating – many uses, cost effective • Other applications of this project include heath-care and rehabilitation • This project has little to no environmental impact, but changes could be made so that it is more environmentally friendly
Conclusions • From a cost perspective, the limitations of the current design project stem from the high initial cost of sensor equipment. • The least expensive component cost was in actuality the Arduino microcontroller. • The ease of connectivity resulting from the inclusion of the Wi-fi shield in conjunction with the Xbee has exceeded all expectations in terms of reliability, range, encryption and functionality and was worth the 22% budget allocation. • The pressure sensor system for a speed skater can be expanded to encompass varied practical applications that exceed the original application of monitoring foot pressure for a speed skater: • Ergonomics analysis of repetitive and stressful working conditions • Sport-specific analysis of the movements and pressures experienced during sports related activities • Gait analysis that can aid in diagnosing possible issues relating to back problems resulting from bad posture or possibly misshapen feet that require orthotic support • As a data collection unit that can be interfaced with any type of data acquisition system not necessarily that of a foot pressure monitoring system. • The unit is highly versatile due to the nature of the Arduino platform and is easily extended to other applications while being highly approachable in those disparate implementations.
