Project :: ECE 445 - Senior Design Laboratory

Project

#	Title	Team Members	TA	Documents	Sponsor
35	BENCH PRESS SMART HELPER	Alejandro Del Rosal Carmona Carlos Suberviola Eduardo Quintana Coronado	uma Lath	design_document1.pdf final_paper1.pdf photo2.heic photo1.JPG presentation1.pdf proposal1.pdf
	# BENCH PRESS SMART HELPER ## TEAM MEMBERS: - Alejandro Del Rosal; ad40 - Eduardo Quintana; ehq2 - Carlos Suberviola; carloss5 # PROBLEM: The bench press is by default the best compound exercise to build the chest, triceps and shoulders. It is also the powerlifting exercise to which more injuries are attributed to. A recent study conducted over sub-elite to elite powerlifters showed that up to 46 % of their injuries were caused by the bench press, which accounts for almost half in some athletes. In order to avoid damage and be able to work out the chest and shoulders, one tends to either lower the intensity of the bench press, or choose other exercises that are not as prone to causing injuries. However, this is far from ideal, as other practices and movements do not encompass all the benefits of the bench press; and clearly, performing this exercise at half intensity does not optimize growth and strength in any way. In order to perform the bench press with a good intensity, one ends up relying on external help, which generally comes from other people at the gym, and is generally deficient and very inconsistent. It is also very important to track everything we do during our workouts, and unpredictable and unstable help is impossible to track. Furthermore, even if there are individuals who can provide good and consistent aid, it is not ideal to rely on people to have a good workout at all. Finally, when performing the bench press with a certain amount of weight, going to failure does not necessarily mean not being able to complete more repetitions with that given weight. A few more repetitions can always be squeezed out with some help, and that extra effort is essential in maximizing muscle use. # SOLUTION: Our design aims to solve three issues: the first one, the reliance on another person in order to perform the bench press with good intensity and minimized risk of injury; the second one, the impossibility of controlling and tracking human help (our help will come in a consistent and automated manner); the third one, the inability of going to failure without having to stop performing the exercise, lowering the weight, and going at it again. We will implement an integrated design which helps the user perform the bench press with smart and customized help. # SOLUTION COMPONENTS: ## POWER: The system would draw its power from the grid (through a wall plug) and then convert the AC power to DC through a subsystem, which would in turn regulate the voltage and current delivered to each component via different DC to DC converters. ## SMART CONTROL: The initial goal is to have an external control device to which the user inputs the desired repetition range and the intensity of the help to be provided. We would also like the machine to detect when the lifter is close to failure and have it pick up the weight entirely. The control and processing subsystem would be on the PCB located at the bottom of the machine, and would be responsible for reading the signals given by the sensors, processing the instructions of the external control device, and detecting unexpected failure. The control system would be in charge of adjusting the level of the support to closely follow the barbell’s movement with constant weight reduction and detecting if the user is failing in lifting the bar and rapidly activating the system to pick the weight up. ## REPETITION TRACKING SYSTEM: We would like to track the number of repetitions performed by adding position sensors to our structure and barbell. These sensors would have to be adjusted in order to take into consideration the range of motion of the person doing the exercise. By specifying top and bottom of our range of motion we can track the repetitions performed. We could also add weight sensors on top of the pads to closely follow the barbell’s movement when applying the weight reduction. In order to achieve the goal of detecting when the user is close to failure, we could detect when the barbell’s position has not changed (or barely changed) for a specific amount of time t, and then activate the mechanism. ## MECHANICAL DESIGN: So far we have thought about implementing a two column structure, joined at the bottom, with pads coming out of each column powered by DC motors. We have also thought of making use of the bench in order to better stabilize the structure. # CRITERION FOR SUCCESS: - The machine must be able to reduce a desired percentage of weight on the barbell without affecting the performance of the lifter - The desired percentage of weight to be reduced should be adjustable via an external control device - The design must be able to track the repetitions effectively and activate the system when specified - The machine can detect failure and swiftly activate the lifting mechanism

Title

Team Members

Documents

Sponsor

BENCH PRESS SMART HELPER

Alejandro Del Rosal Carmona
Carlos Suberviola
Eduardo Quintana Coronado

uma Lath

design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
photo2.heic
photo1.JPG
presentation1.pdf
proposal1.pdf

# BENCH PRESS SMART HELPER
## TEAM MEMBERS:
- Alejandro Del Rosal; ad40
- Eduardo Quintana; ehq2
- Carlos Suberviola; carloss5
# PROBLEM:
The bench press is by default the best compound exercise to build the chest, triceps and shoulders. It is also the powerlifting exercise to which more injuries are attributed to. A recent study conducted over sub-elite to elite powerlifters showed that up to 46 % of their injuries were caused by the bench press, which accounts for almost half in some athletes.

In order to avoid damage and be able to work out the chest and shoulders, one tends to either lower the intensity of the bench press, or choose other exercises that are not as prone to causing injuries. However, this is far from ideal, as other practices and movements do not encompass all the benefits of the bench press; and clearly, performing this exercise at half intensity does not optimize growth and strength in any way.

In order to perform the bench press with a good intensity, one ends up relying on external help, which generally comes from other people at the gym, and is generally deficient and very inconsistent. It is also very important to track everything we do during our workouts, and unpredictable and unstable help is impossible to track. Furthermore, even if there are individuals who can provide good and consistent aid, it is not ideal to rely on people to have a good workout at all.

Finally, when performing the bench press with a certain amount of weight, going to failure does not necessarily mean not being able to complete more repetitions with that given weight. A few more repetitions can always be squeezed out with some help, and that extra effort is essential in maximizing muscle use.

# SOLUTION:
Our design aims to solve three issues: the first one, the reliance on another person in order to perform the bench press with good intensity and minimized risk of injury; the second one, the impossibility of controlling and tracking human help (our help will come in a consistent and automated manner); the third one, the inability of going to failure without having to stop performing the exercise, lowering the weight, and going at it again.

We will implement an integrated design which helps the user perform the bench press with smart and customized help.

# SOLUTION COMPONENTS:
## POWER:
The system would draw its power from the grid (through a wall plug) and then convert the AC power to DC through a subsystem, which would in turn regulate the voltage and current delivered to each component via different DC to DC converters.

## SMART CONTROL:
The initial goal is to have an external control device to which the user inputs the desired repetition range and the intensity of the help to be provided. We would also like the machine to detect when the lifter is close to failure and have it pick up the weight entirely.

The control and processing subsystem would be on the PCB located at the bottom of the machine, and would be responsible for reading the signals given by the sensors, processing the instructions of the external control device, and detecting unexpected failure. The control system would be in charge of adjusting the level of the support to closely follow the barbell’s movement with constant weight reduction and detecting if the user is failing in lifting the bar and rapidly activating the system to pick the weight up.

## REPETITION TRACKING SYSTEM:
We would like to track the number of repetitions performed by adding position sensors to our structure and barbell. These sensors would have to be adjusted in order to take into consideration the range of motion of the person doing the exercise. By specifying top and bottom of our range of motion we can track the repetitions performed. We could also add weight sensors on top of the pads to closely follow the barbell’s movement when applying the weight reduction. In order to achieve the goal of detecting when the user is close to failure, we could detect when the barbell’s position has not changed (or barely changed) for a specific amount of time t, and then activate the mechanism.

## MECHANICAL DESIGN:
So far we have thought about implementing a two column structure, joined at the bottom, with pads coming out of each column powered by DC motors. We have also thought of making use of the bench in order to better stabilize the structure.

# CRITERION FOR SUCCESS:
- The machine must be able to reduce a desired percentage of weight on the barbell without affecting the performance of the lifter
- The desired percentage of weight to be reduced should be adjustable via an external control device
- The design must be able to track the repetitions effectively and activate the system when specified
- The machine can detect failure and swiftly activate the lifting mechanism

Featured Project

# Musical Hand

Team Members:

- Ramesey Foote (rgfoote2)

- Michelle Zhang (mz32)

- Thomas MacDonald (tcm5)

# Problem

Musical instruments come in all shapes and sizes; however, transporting instruments often involves bulky and heavy cases. Not only can transporting instruments be a hassle, but the initial purchase and maintenance of an instrument can be very expensive. We would like to solve this problem by creating an instrument that is lightweight, compact, and low maintenance.

# Solution

Our project involves a wearable system on the chest and both hands. The left hand will be used to dictate the pitches of three “strings” using relative angles between the palm and fingers. For example, from a flat horizontal hand a small dip in one finger is associated with a low frequency. A greater dip corresponds to a higher frequency pitch. The right hand will modulate the generated sound by adding effects such as vibrato through lateral motion. Finally, the brains of the project will be the central unit, a wearable, chest-mounted subsystem responsible for the audio synthesis and output.

Our solution would provide an instrument that is lightweight and easy to transport. We will be utilizing accelerometers instead of flex sensors to limit wear and tear, which would solve the issue of expensive maintenance typical of more physical synthesis methods.

# Solution Components

The overall solution has three subsystems; a right hand, left hand, and a central unit.

## Subsystem 1 - Left Hand

The left hand subsystem will use four digital accelerometers total: three on the fingers and one on the back of the hand. These sensors will be used to determine the angle between the back of the hand and each of the three fingers (ring, middle, and index) being used for synthesis. Each angle will correspond to an analog signal for pitch with a low frequency corresponding to a completely straight finger and a high frequency corresponding to a completely bent finger. To filter out AC noise, bypass capacitors and possibly resistors will be used when sending the accelerometer signals to the central unit.

## Subsystem 2 - Right Hand

The right subsystem will use one accelerometer to determine the broad movement of the hand. This information will be used to determine how much of a vibrato there is in the output sound. This system will need the accelerometer, bypass capacitors (.1uF), and possibly some resistors if they are needed for the communication scheme used (SPI or I2C).

## Subsystem 3 - Central Unit

The central subsystem utilizes data from the gloves to determine and generate the correct audio. To do this, two microcontrollers from the STM32F3 series will be used. The left and right hand subunits will be connected to the central unit through cabling. One of the microcontrollers will receive information from the sensors on both gloves and use it to calculate the correct frequencies. The other microcontroller uses these frequencies to generate the actual audio. The use of two separate microcontrollers allows for the logic to take longer, accounting for slower human response time, while meeting needs for quicker audio updates. At the output, there will be a second order multiple feedback filter. This will get rid of any switching noise while also allowing us to set a gain. This will be done using an LM358 Op amp along with the necessary resistors and capacitors to generate the filter and gain. This output will then go to an audio jack that will go to a speaker. In addition, bypass capacitors, pull up resistors, pull down resistors, and the necessary programming circuits will be implemented on this board.

# Criterion For Success

The minimum viable product will consist of two wearable gloves and a central unit that will be connected together via cords. The user will be able to adjust three separate notes that will be played simultaneously using the left hand, and will be able to apply a sound effect using the right hand. The output audio should be able to be heard audibly from a speaker.

Project Videos

Musical Hand Demo