Accurate pedometer

I bought a pedometer a few days ago to get an idea of how far I walked in a day, with the intention of monitoring my daily activity. (E.g. search for "10,000 steps" on google.)

I've been through three pedometers in the past week and these things really don't work very well. The count is derived from a little pendulum that swings back and forth on a spring. Switch debounce and sensitivity are major problems with these pendulum based units, and I'm not aware of anything else out there that tackles the job in a different way.

I've been wondering what might be a better way to make a pedometer, and also if there is a way to do it with no moving parts.

My first thought was to put a sensor in each shoe, but then you'd have to run wires between the two shoes, which is silly, or use RF. C'mon, "Blue Tooth walking shoes"? I think that's going a little too far.

A reasonably reliable pedometer, no moving parts. Any suggestions?

Mike

Reply to
Mike Turco
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Maybe a pressure sensor or piezo??

Reply to
Henry

Yes, and why would you need to monitor both shoes? Presumably where one leg goes, the other is sure to follow shortly. Max error = 1 pace.

Reply to
Bob Stephens

My pedometer goes off when I move around in my chair, etc. My thought was to see if one was walking by measuring the time between footsteps to see if a person is actually walking.

A piezo in the shoe? Maybe two: one in the back and one in the front to determine whether a person is walking vs. having just put his feet up on the desk.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Turco

Pedometers are by their very nature vague measuring devices, since they only count steps, not distance. Depends on the application I suppose. If distance accuracy is of at least some importance, then a pedometer is NOT the way to go.

You'd be hard pressed to get something with no moving parts, but I suppose you mean "parts that don't move very much"- because a true no moving parts solution (GPS?) would be too expensive.

I'm always in favour of a wired solution rather than wireless for reliability, but owing to the inconvenience, in this case I'd say no.

Has anyone tried an accelerometer on the vertical axis, checking for the shock that occurs when your foot hits the ground? It would require some signal conditioning, and possibly some smarts on measuring the peak acceleration all the while dynamically changing the sensitivity to cater for different walkers?

All of this should be doable with a single chip micro, so there wouldn't be stupid amounts of hardware.

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Reply to
John Tserkezis

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What about a magnet in one shoe and a coil and electronics in the other ? Seems to me that moving your feet around while in a chair produces far less steep signals than two feet passing eachother at high speed. Maybe two coils in the shoe, to detect motion in one direction.

Meindert

Reply to
Meindert Sprang

Depends on what you're trying to measure.

You could use GPS to measure diatsnce traversed. That wouldn't show all the walking you do around the home/office.

You could count footsteps (which is what most try to do). That gives you credit for stepping in place.

You could measure distance moved by each foot relative to the other. That ignores stepping in place, but gives credit for laps and treadmills. Measure it using elastic between the feet.

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Reply to
Alex Colvin

Get a GPS :-)

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Al Balmer
Balmer Consulting
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Reply to
Alan Balmer

Even a cheap GPS will do a good job. Cheap ones are plentiful. Or test drive a Cadillac and get one free.

Doug

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Reply to
Doug Dotson

ADI has an app note describing an accurate pedometer using one of their MEMS accelerometers.

Leon

Reply to
Leon Heller

ADI has an app note describing an accurate pedometer using one of their MEMS accelerometers.

Leon

Reply to
Leon Heller

Are you kidding?

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Chuck F (cbfalconer@yahoo.com) (cbfalconer@worldnet.att.net)
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Reply to
CBFalconer

I'd use a GPS reciever, since you have a start point you can subtract it from your arbitratry finish point and derive a distance measurement. Nowadays, +/- three feet accurcy seems typical. If you want fancy you could use a accelerometer chip and get the pacing movement measurements as well.

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Reply to
Earl Bollinger

I got to thinking about your bluetooth shoes and that isn't a all bad thought actually. Having shoes take various measurements to transmit that info back to a data gathering computer can be invaluable to various people. Runners, joggers, weight lifters, physical therapy, hiking, etc. could benifit from such info. For example a runner could use it to help determine better pacing, whether one leg is being favored over the other, and so on. It would be interesting to see the data gathered for a pole vaulter or long jumper or shot putter person.

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Reply to
Earl Bollinger

I wanted to come up with something simple, unique and reliable. I thought, "Here's a problem I'm having. How can I solve it?" The suggestion for a piezo in the shoe was right along those lines.

The answer is, of course, that the problem has not just been solved by somebody else, but beat to death! GPS Systems. Accelerometers .You name it.

I like your thoughts on the Bluetooth shoes, but I'm pretty sure this kind of thing has been done. Especially at the professional level. It may be possible to bring this kind of technology to every day people. I could see people paying three or four hundred dollars per pair of shoes that come along with the Bluetooth receiving device (if necessary), a CD and a USB cable.

Mike

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Reply to
Mike Turco

I believe that the definition of "pedometer" is to count Steps, but of course users are more interested in distance, which will require a GPS or some form of calibration. Calibration is the problem, especially if it goes off while you are sitting down! I would think that a nice little accelerometer in the shoe could even make a good guess as to whether you are walking or running and how long the foot is InTheAir might extrapolate to the length of pace??? - RM

Reply to
Rick Merrill

C'mon now. Use a full-blown inertial navigation system. Maybe add a palm-pilot with GPS to help calculate and compensate drift. You could wear it all in a backpack with a 28 vdc power pack. Just think of all the exercise...

Scott

Reply to
Not Really Me

To make a real pedometer, you definitely want something that measures mechanical quantities (pressure on the heel, or acceleration of the foot). Use it wisely, and you won't even have to provide stored power for the device --- a boot-heel pressure sensor can easily generate enough power on its own that you won't need a battery. This technique has already been suggested as a main power source for all kinds of portable gear.

Putting it somewhere between the heel of one foot and the ground, you can set a very reliable threshold, too, to distinguish an actual step from the foot just moving around and hitting some things --- every pressure pulse equivalent to most of your full body weight landing on the heel almost instantaneously obviously should be counted as a valid "step", and be sufficiently unlikely to occur otherwise.

An acceleration measurement of the foot via, say, an ancle strap, might work, too, but would be a whole lot easier to fool.

Having a sensor only in one shoe, multiply everything by two...

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Hans-Bernhard Broeker (broeker@physik.rwth-aachen.de)
Even if all the snow were burnt, ashes would remain.
Reply to
Hans-Bernhard Broeker

Children's shoes with built-in piezos and LEDs have been available for several years now - they flash the LED whenever the child takes a step. It should be relatively simple to buy a pair and gut the sensors.

Kelly

Reply to
Kelly Hall

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Or not even that. Piezos are really easy to use.

The thing is that I was hoping that I had found a problem that needed solving: "the world needs a cheap, accurate pedometer". It sounds like a lot of people have already beat me to it! However, all is not lost. I was at the gym tonight thinking about the applications of accelerometers and pedometers.

Mike

Reply to
Mike Turco

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