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Goals
"There's a Wocket in my pocket!" - Dr. Seuss
The goal of this open source project is to create software and hardware that permits automatic, 24/7 physical activity and context detection on common mobile phones. We are doing this by iteratively designing and testing Wockets -- miniature, low-cost hardware devices that will measure human motion using accelerometers. Wockets will send data to mobile phones that are processed by software running on the phone to automatically detect type, duration, and intensity of physical activity. In combination with other sensors that are being built into phones (accelerometers, GPS, etc.), the Wockets system should be able to detect things like...
- David was sitting for 6 hours today.
- Mary is currently walking briskly.
- George got 45 minutes of exercise between 5-8PM.
- Wanda is more likely to get meaningful exercise when she is near a park.
- Fred did these activities today: sleep, walk, run, cycling, sit, and vacuum.
- Bob is currently burning 2 kcals per minute as he bicycles (uphill, moderately).
The hardware designs will be freely available. They will be designed by the community of people interested in using them. Software for the phone that will use data from the hardware to infer what someone is doing will be free. The software will also be open source and free.
Our goal is to make both the hardware and software robust, so that the system can detect activity continuously. The sensors should be easy and comfortable to wear, easy to maintain and charge, and very inexpensive. The software should be robust, useful for many application developers, and downright easy and fun to use. The Wockets should be an affordable, fun way for researchers, developers, and hobbyists to develop applications for phones that take advantage of information about physical activity.
Those are our goals.
We often get these questions (among others):
- Why not just use existing sensors? There are plenty of accelerometer projects.
- If mobile phones will have accelerometers built in, why are Wockets necessary?
- Hasn't research shown that a single accelerometer at the hip is sufficient to collect information about activities people are doing?
- Why in the world would someone wear Wockets 24/7?
For answers, see the FAQ. |