Phoning it in: Use your cell for fitness
December 9th, 2008 by Barb
Cell phones seem to have taken over our lives in recent years, giving us 24/7 access to e-mail, the Internet, games, music, movies, TV shows, etc. The value of such capabilities is debatable, but now researchers at the University of Washington have developed a cell phone application that can actually help you improve your fitness level.
Dubbed UbiFit, the application is designed to encourage people to self-monitor their physical activity and incorporate regular and varied activity into everyday life. It features three components:
1) a “glanceable” display that shows graphic representations of physical activities and goal attainment on the phone’s background screen, providing a subtle motivational reminder when the phone is used;
2) an interactive application on the phone that provides detailed information about your physical activities and a journal where you can add, edit, and delete activities; and
3) a sensing fitness device that automatically transmits information about several types of activities—walking, running, cycling, use of the elliptical trainer and use of the stair machine—to the display and the interactive application.
According to a press release, the sensing device is clipped on your waistband like a pedometer and uses an accelerometer to sense the user’s movement. It determines what you are doing based on how it gets jiggled around—the localized motion at your waist will be different if you’re walking, jogging or sitting in a car. The device sends signals three times per second via Bluetooth to the cell phone, where the application averages these rapid signals and translates them into, for example, a 20-minute jog or a drive to work.
The glanceable display shows an empty lawn at the beginning of the week, and flowers grow as you work out during the week. Different kinds of workouts yield different colored flowers. Users set weekly workout goals and are rewarded with a butterfly when the goal is met. You can also enter workout information manually if the sensor made a mistake, you forgot to wear it, or you did an activity that the sensor does not detect. That’s a definite advantage over the Nike + iPod, which doesn’t allow manual entry of workouts.
After conducting several field studies, the researchers found that participants who had the glanceable display maintained their physical activity level over time and on holiday weeks. The level of physical activity for participants without the glanceable display dropped significantly.
UbiFit could be released to the public within the next year or two, as phones with built-in accelerometers, such as the iPhone and the new Android G1, become more common. For someone who is as OCD as I am about recording workouts, this makes the iPhone more appealing. And who knows—maybe I’ll finally be out from under my current oppressive contract with T-Mobile by then!
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