Donny: At-home fitness system for healthy ageing
Year: 2021
Background
The world ageing population is growing and life expectancy is increasing. By 2050, a large portion of society will be over 60 years old. Ageing involves changes at motor, sensory-perceptual and cognitive levels, as well as changes in the way people relate to their physical and social environments.
Physical activity, has been linked to the improvement of functional capacity in older adults, the prevention of diseases and reduction of risks and the improvement of social outcomes. There are, however, a number and variety of barriers at the intrapersonal, interpersonal and environmental level, that make it difficult for older adults to participate in physical activity.
Physical activity, especially in the form of guided exercise, has been linked to the improvement of functional capacity in older adults, the prevention of diseases and reduction of risks and the improvement of social outcomes. There are, however, a number and variety of barriers at the intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental levels that make it difficult for older adults to participate in physical activity.
Despite the importance of being physically active in later stages of life, currently people over 60 years are an under-represented age group in the fitness industry. Fortunately, new trends that have emerged in the last years (especially with the COVID-19 pandemic), like home-based physical activity and fitness technologies have opened the possibility of exploration in the design of products and services for this specific user.
Donny Smart Device
Donny is a product-service system that provides a personalized and monitored workout training at home. The device contains a built-in assistant that supports voice commands and includes body motion sensing technology that follows motion patterns of exercises and points out the gestures or postures to be corrected during workout sessions.
The design was inspired by home assistant devices, the dawn, and the gesture of approval that coaches make when trainees perform the exercise correctly. Compared to other smart home training systems with larger and more complex hardware, this device seeks to simplify the interaction with the system and occupy the least amount of space in the home by taking advantage of other products and equipment already available there
By pairing the device with a TV either by Bluetooth or an HDMI cable, the user gets access to live, on-demand lessons, personal training and group workouts.
Donny makes use of a 12-megapixel RGB camera in combination with a 1-megapixel depth sensor to capture the movement performed by the user and creates guidance in real time with physical (nodding or shaking the head) and vocal (verbal instructions) gestures that mimic the positive and negative reinforcement that human trainers perform when conducting an exercise session, to help the user improve their form and technique.
Donny's Supplemental Weight Set
Donny is designed to perform resistance training with the least amount of equipment possible and keeping in mind that the user may already possess additional equipment at home. In cases where the user is completely new to the home fitness experience, along with the device they can purchase a complementary set of weights that can be incorporated into the home with the same ease as the device.
