Boris Smus

Like many other runners, I like to listen to my music while training. Even with a playlist of running music, I often want to change the currently playing track. There are currently two popular options of doing this: using the device itself, or using a headphone remote. My ubiquitous computing project from last Spring explores a third option: imagine if your shoes had built-in accelerometers that allowed you to skip mid-stride to change tracks. read more…

Business card design is a tricky art. It’s a fairly constrained space, but that’s what design is all about, right? I’m ordering a personal set of moo mini cards. These are small, two sided prints. One side contains an image, and the other contains contact information. On the image side, I’m putting snippets of travel photography. The other side is by default a conventional list of contact information, but moo conveniently allows it to be replaced by a custom image.
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A few projects around the internet use an Android phone to control the LEGO Mindstorms NXT brick. Most involve an ugly hack in which the phone communicates with a computer over WiFi, and the computer (paired to the NXT through bluetooth) submits the command to the brick. These projects typically use Android as a remote control for the NXT robot, and not as part of the robot itself. Here is a missed opportunity: the NXT could be augmented by an impressive list of sensors, GPS and Internet access provided by an Android phone.
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I’ve been working on a couple of researchy projects involving gait recognition and running foot strike analysis. For my proof of concept, I turned to the wiimote, everyone’s favorite physical interaction prototyping input device. Wiimotes are portable and rugged, and thus well suited to high-intensity activities like running. They attach easily to legs with a physio band, although the elastic tension tends to cut off circulation. No big deal, though… it’s For Science!
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Nike+ is a clever little system designed by Apple and Nike to infer the runner’s speed and augment the running experience. The runner places a small chip in his shoe which transmits data to the iPod using a proprietary RF-based protocol. The chip contains a piezoelectric cell which measures how long the foot exerted pressure on the ground. According to Apple’s FAQ, this contact time is directly related to your pace. In this post I provide a snippet of python code for collecting data through Sparkfun’s adapter.
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