An app to motivate people to move. Every exercise will lead to a unique artwork, defined by data generated during the activity.
Many people have problems with mental and physical health due to isolation and working at home especially in times of the current pandemic. There are many studies that show the positive impact of exercise on our well-being. In this project we want to motivate people to simply get out and move. To accomplish it we thought of an app that connects exercise with a truly unique, generative artwork based on the individual sensor datasets provided by the smartphone.
In comparision most walking/running apps on the market focus on calories burnt or weight loss. We remove the competitive, self-improving theme and focus on the well-being of the users. Therefore appealing to a whole new audience.
Select your artwork style, hit Tracking to start the session. Once started, traces records sensor data from your smartphone that functions as an input for the representation of the movement. You can watch the artwork enfold live on your screen while moving around or let it record in the background and gerenate it later. Over time, one can collect different artworks and stay motivated to go outside for a walk, run a track or jump around in any other way. Users should also have the option of uploading and sharing their own styles of generative artworks. With this feature the app also has the potential to grow into a social media network, connected with movement.
To get an idea of a working prototype we used a combination of Python, figma and touch designer. For building the web app we then used a combination of basic Javascript, React native, p5.js and node.js. While React Native functions as the core of the app, p5 is an easy web based accessible tool that would offer a good interface to encourage people uploading their own artwork styles to our app.
Easy access and easy to use for all people. We wanted to build a preferably barrier-free and user friendly app, so we need to implement several possibilities to interact with the app so that as many people as possible can profit by the motivation the app may provide.
- Working prototype that generates simple artwork from collected sensor data during a walk.
- Improve inclusion: Make an acoustic version with speech control and providing audible artworks
- Build a suitable interface that invides people to contribute to this project by providing selfmade artwork styles with p5
You will need python3 and the corresponding package named p5. You can install it using pip install p5. The path app/python directs to two example artworks that use some sample data generated by a walk. For now, you have the choice between two kinds of simple artwork. Try it on your own:
python visu_circles.py or python visu_spiral.py
- Importance of Walking to Public Health
- Benefits of Walking
- harvard - walking your steps to health
- nbc news