Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
82 Real-Time Form Correction Device
Bhanu Kunam
Ishank Pujari
Sree Akkina
Po-Jen Ko design_document1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
Team Members:
- Bhanuprakash Kunam (bkunam2)
- Sree Akkina (sakkina2)
- Ishank Pujari (ipuja2)

# Problem

Free weight exercises (dumbbells/barbells) require intense focus, and users often cannot safely look at visual displays while performing complex movements. Additionally, beginners frequently suffer from poor form - such as wobbling or using momentum rather than muscle control - which is difficult to self-diagnose without a personal trainer.

# Solution

This project proposes the “Smart-Clip,” an IoT attachment for barbells and free weights that utilizes auditory feedback to correct form in real-time. The system aims to use an ESP32 microcontroller and a 6-axis IMU to analyze the lift’s stability and trajectory. A piezoelectric buzzer provides sound cues: a “clean” tone confirms a stable, good-form repetition, while a dissonant alert signals excessive wobble or dangerous acceleration. This allows the user to maintain safe positioning while receiving instant coaching on their technique. All form data is logged to an app via Bluetooth for post-workout analysis.

# Solution Components

## Data Acquisition (Sensing)

The physical clip attaches securely to the dumbbell handle. Inside, a 6-axis Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) continuously monitors the weight’s movement in 3D space. The Accelerometer measures the velocity of the lift (is the user moving too fast/jerking the weight?). The Gyroscope measures rotational stability (is the user’s wrist wobbling or tilting effectively?)

## On-Device Processing

The ESP32 microcontroller acts as the central processing unit. Instead of sending raw, noisy data to the phone, the ESP32 performs Edge Computing. Noise Filtering applies a smoothing filter to ignore small hand tremors. The Form Analysis Algorithm compares the motion vector against a “Gold Standard” vertical path. If the vector deviates sideways (wobble) or accelerates beyond a safety threshold (momentum), the system flags the repetition as “Poor Form.”

## Feedback Generation (The Interface)

The system employs a dual-loop feedback mechanism to provide both real-time coaching and long-term analytics. For immediate, a passive piezoelectric buzzer emits distinct auditory cues: a sharp, high-pitched beep confirms a valid repetition with proper form, whereas a low, dissonant buzz alerts the user to instability or dangerous acceleration. In parallel, the device utilizes Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to transmit detailed performance metrics, such as total count, lift tempo, and stability scores, to a companion mobile application, allowing users to review their workout history and track progress over time.

## App

The companion mobile application serves as the centralized hub for workout analytics, receiving data from the Smart-Clip via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). It records all session metrics, including repetition counts, tempo, and stability scores, locally on the device, allowing users to track and analyze their long-term progress through historical graphs and trend reports. Beyond data storage, the app acts as a control interface, enabling users to customize the clip’s sensitivity thresholds and audio feedback settings to match their specific training regimen.

# Criterion For Success

1. Repetition Accuracy: Counts bicep curls with = 90% accuracy; detects > 15 degrees wobble in >= 9/10 trials with no false alerts on clean reps.

3. Feedback Latency: Audio feedback occurs within 200 ms of IMU-detected rep completion.

4. Bluetooth Integrity: 100% of completed sets transmit correctly to the app within a 2 m range.

5. Mechanical Stability: Clip rotates less than 10 degrees on the handle during a 10-rep set.

6. Power Efficiency: Operates for at least 1 hour with average current draw under 100 mA.

Dynamic Legged Robot

Joseph Byrnes, Kanyon Edvall, Ahsan Qureshi

Featured Project

We plan to create a dynamic robot with one to two legs stabilized in one or two dimensions in order to demonstrate jumping and forward/backward walking. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of inexpensive walking robots and provide the starting point for a novel quadrupedal robot. We will write a hybrid position-force task space controller for each leg. We will use a modified version of the ODrive open source motor controller to control the torque of the joints. The joints will be driven with high torque off-the-shelf brushless DC motors. We will use high precision magnetic encoders such as the AS5048A to read the angles of each joint. The inverse dynamics calculations and system controller will run on a TI F28335 processor.

We feel that this project appropriately brings together knowledge from our previous coursework as well as our extracurricular, research, and professional experiences. It allows each one of us to apply our strengths to an exciting and novel project. We plan to use the legs, software, and simulation that we develop in this class to create a fully functional quadruped in the future and release our work so that others can build off of our project. This project will be very time intensive but we are very passionate about this project and confident that we are up for the challenge.

While dynamically stable quadrupeds exist— Boston Dynamics’ Spot mini, Unitree’s Laikago, Ghost Robotics’ Vision, etc— all of these robots use custom motors and/or proprietary control algorithms which are not conducive to the increase of legged robotics development. With a well documented affordable quadruped platform we believe more engineers will be motivated and able to contribute to development of legged robotics.

More specifics detailed here:

https://courses.engr.illinois.edu/ece445/pace/view-topic.asp?id=30338

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