Nokia x Burton: Push Snowboarding R&D videos

Hi All,

As some of you might remember, we posted details about the Nokia x Burton: Push Snowboarding project here a few months back when we were searching for a developer to join the project - this thread.
Thanks to those that submitted their details, and to those who have been following the project!

All this week we'll be posting a series of five videos detailing the first snow tests that the Push Snowboarding R&D team held out in Austria. They give you a behind-the-scenes look at the five sensors we'll be attaching to snowboarders this week for our alpha tests during the Burton European Open to capture their run data!

We'll post all the videos in this thread, starting with Push Snowboarding R&D Episode 1: Speed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yQtzCy1cR0

Feel free to ask any questions about the project — whether you'd like more info about the project or if you'd like to find out more details about the S^3 development and data capture, we'll do our best to answer if we can.


Look forward to hearing what you think!


Matt @ Nokia Push

In the link you provided, I could not find any information as to what this project is about, not even in the "about" section.
What sensors are mounted on the board / surfer, and for what purpose??
Ok, in the previous thread, and link I could gather you are mounting some accelerometers, maybe GPS (not that sure).
And clearly a helm cam.
I still don't get what this is good for?

Can you explain a bit?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by high_flyer

Can you explain a bit?

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Hi high_flyer,

Thanks for the response.

We’re attaching five different sensors on a boarder to measure various data streams, these are:

-Speed, which is captured via the N8’s GPS
-Workrate, which is captured via a heartrate sensor which is currently embedded in a vest
-Rush, which is captured by measuring the amount of sweat the boarder produces
-Orientation, which is captured via a gyro-accelerometer and magnetometer mounted on the snowboard
-Downward Force, which is captured via pressure sensor insoles embedded in the boots

We’re capturing data from all of these sensors, plus some other onboard sensors in the N8 (such as GPS) and then openly releasing it to the public. Whether that be developers who can use the data and the Symbian^3 framework we’ve developed to build their own applications, or creative types who might visualize the data captured to provide a new insight into snowboarding.

We’re not sure what will happen with the data when we release it and that’s the beauty of it! A developer could build a geo-location app for the mountains where you can check in on the mountain or it could be a visualisation that shows the stresses on a snowboader in a never seen before way! Ultimately, we want to enhance the snowboarding experience through open technology and collaboration.

If you’ve got any more questions, don’t hesitate to drop me a line and keep an eye on @NokiaPush where we’ll be posting videos detailing the R&D work we’ve undertaken to date and more info on each of the sensors!

Matt @ Nokia Push

Hi Matt,

thanks.
You might want to post that info in the about page, as its something (I, and I guess other) would expect to find in an 'About' page, which at the moment says:
"we are doing some great stuff (which is called Nokia Push) on a snowboard " - but not really what this is all about (which to me is the purpose of an about page). :)

May I ask what board/controller do you use for reading the sensors not mounted on the N8?
In what frequency?
Do you use Qt for reading the sensors?
And maybe a list of the sensors (as in which make, model and technical specification, links to data sheets pdfs would be great too!)

Thanks.

Hi High_Flyer

We'll be launching a new Push Snowboarding website in the coming days and this will have a specific 'Developers' section where you'll be able to find out much more about the details of the project.

In the meantime I've passed on your questions to the development team to hopefully get you some answers.

Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

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Added after 5 minutes:

Hi all,
Here's the second video, Push Snowboarding R&D Episode 2: GSR. In this film the team show us how they're measuring Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) to measure a snowboarder's rush, and to find out if he can hold his nerve.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4AUHstrBE4

In the next couple of weeks we'll be releasing the datasets we captured at the Burton European Open last week, so you can help shape the future of Push Snowboarding. It's open to everyone to get involved!

Feel free to drop me a line if you've got any questions about the project or the data we captured.

Matt @ Nokia Push

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Added after 48 minutes:

Hi High_Flyer,

Just got the following message back from our developer. I hope it helps answer your questions!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by high_flyer

May I ask what board/controller do you use for reading the sensors not mounted on the N8?
In what frequency?
Do you use Qt for reading the sensors?
And maybe a list of the sensors (as in which make, model and technical specification, links to data sheets pdfs would be great too!)

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We're using Arduino Pro Mini's 3.3V (Atmega 328's) with small lithium batteries, all stocked from sparkfun.com We're sampling the sensors at different rates, here's a list of them along with the sample rates we're currently using, please refer the the provided circuit diagrams:

Controller Arduino Pro Mini: http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9220

Foot pressure: 5 force Sensing resistors (2 in parallel and 3 in parallel) http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9375 sampled at 20Hz using the analogue in pins from the arduino

GSR: Sample rate 1Hz

Heart Rate: RMCM01 polar chip, http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8660 sampled at 1Hz

Motion Unit: ADXL335 + ITG3200 + HMC5843 , http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9801 + http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9269 + http://www.sparkfun.com/products/9371 + , each sampled at 20Hz

And, yes, we use QT for reading the sensors. The entire app is 100% QT.


Let us know if there's anything else you'd like to find out!

Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

Hi all,
In the R&D Episode 3: Orientation, the Push Snowboarding team show us how they’re capturing data to help determine board rotation and a snowboarder’s position as he rides down the mountain.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma7nXe03zIM

This week we'll release the final two R&D films, and following that, we'll release the datasets for you all to work with!

Let us know what you think about what you've seen so far.

Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

Hi Matt,

tanks very much for the technical info.
Since I am also part of a project that uses Atmels similar to the Arduino I am very much interested on how you got Qt to run on the Arduino.
Du you guys have a wiki or more technical blog where you explain how you did this (Running Qt on the Arduino).

Thanks
high_flyer.

Hi High_flyer

We've just launched our new Push Snowboarding website that has a lot more info on the sensors and the technology of the project. Plus, in the not too distant future we plan to add a Forum/Wiki to the Developer Centre section of the site where these more technical questions will be posted and answered direct by the the development side of the team. I'll post up in here once it's live, but feel free to have a look at the new site now to get a bit more of an overview on the tech.

http://pushsnowboarding.com


Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

Quote:

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And, yes, we use QT for reading the sensors. The entire app is 100% QT.

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You mean you use Qt to read data FROM the Arduion, or do you use Qt ON the Arduino?
I would be very much interested if/how you got Qt to run on Arduino!

Hi there!
@high_flyer, the app (on the phone) is 100% Qt, the programs on the Arduinos aren't. But the arduino code is generally really really tiny! (You can get it from the website).

And I agree, it would be cool to have Qt on Arduinos but I believe whoever is doing something in a microcontroller that needs Qt (Some GUI stuff!?!?) would probably go for something with a proper OS and then Qt Embedded should do the trick.. :D

Quote:

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And I agree, it would be cool to have Qt on Arduinos but I believe whoever is doing something in a microcontroller that needs Qt (Some GUI stuff!?!?) would probably go for something with a proper OS and then Qt Embedded should do the trick..

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True, which is what we are doing, but I was just interested to know if they used Qt on the Arduino, that would be really interersting to know how they managed it...
By the way, if you buy an KVR Kit, it comes with a screen, and GUI demo on it... Micro controllers are getting very powerful!

Hi all,
Here is R&D Episode 4: Downward force. This video shows how capturing downward force (foot pressure) data to help determine not only how much pressure is on a boarder’s toes and heels. This, coupled with some of the other datastreams we’re capturing, will tell us how much airtime a snowboarder has pulled!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIEhujDle98

If you've got any questions about any of the sensors or the data, we'd love to hear from you!

Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

The final video has been released! R&D Episode 5: Workrate shows how the Push Snowboard team are capturing heart rate to find out how hard a snowboarder is working on the slopes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CZj9zLW_A0

Let us know what you think about the R&D work you've seen so far. And get in touch with any ideas or questions you've had about how you might use the data that we captured at the alpha tests a few weeks ago. We're releasing the datasets to everyone next week. We've already had a few ideas come our way, but we'd love to hear from you because Push Snowboarding is open to everyone to get involved!


Thanks,

Matt @ Nokia Push

This initiative is pretty cool, especially the fact that you share your code. But in order to be *completely* open, I think it would be nice to share the wiring you used for the arduino+sensor modules, and the corresponding arduino scripts. Do you think that would be possible ?

Thanks,
Yann

Quote:

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Originally Posted by yannlossouarn

This initiative is pretty cool, especially the fact that you share your code. But in order to be *completely* open, I think it would be nice to share the wiring you used for the arduino+sensor modules, and the corresponding arduino scripts. Do you think that would be possible ?

Thanks,
Yann

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Hi Yann,

Thanks for the kind words, great to hear you’re loving the project!

We’ve shared all of the Arduino scripts, which can be found here: http://bit.ly/f4bZ1l
I’ll drop the development team an email about the wiring and post back once I get a response for you.

Thanks,

Matt @ Push Snowboarding

Hi all.

Just thought some of you might be interested in watching an interview with the developer behind the Push Snowboarding project.

http://www.pushsnowboarding.com/news...wboarding-dev/

Love to hear your thoughts, and as always if you've got any questions about any aspect of the project - just leave us a comment below


Matt @ Push Snowboarding