Jupiter Squat System
May 2019 | Talo Fitness LLC | Team of 2
Overview
The Jupiter Squat System provides coaches and athletes an objective and consistent way to monitor squat depth. Coaches are able to monitor multiple athletes at once to ensure training leads to improved performance.
Consistently performing squats correctly leads to improved performance in competition and develops more muscle to help improve overall strength and health.
Skills
CNC Mill - 3 Axis
3D Printing
SolidWorks
Soldering
Arduino
Laser Cutting
Testing & Analysis
Iterative Design
How Does It Work?
The Jupiter Squat System consists of a stand and a hip unit. The stand emits a horizontal infrared laser line and a visible laser line. The visible laser acts as a marker for the IR line. The height of the stand can be adjusted and set to the user’s target squat depth.
The hip unit is clipped to the user’s waist band. It contains an IR sensor, a buzzer, and an LED light. The design of the hip unit allows the IR sensor to be positioned exactly at the user’s hip crease. When the user performs a squat, the buzzer and LED light alert them that they have reached their target depth.
Design Process
The components of the stand were designed in SolidWorks. The goal was to construct something sleek, lightweight and compact. The base of the stand was machined out of aluminum stock using a 3 axis mill and the top casing was 3D printed.
The stand went through one major prototype iteration. Given the number of false positives our test results were producing, we quickly realized that the IR signal was not emitting in a flat plane and rather had a much wider spread. A higher quality IR laser was purchased to solve this problem. The results went from inconclusive to 80%-90% accuracy for every user.
IR Mapping
Before: Light was being emitted up to 12" away from horizontal plane
After: The new IR laser has a linear spread that produces more accurate results
We designed the casing of the hip unit in SolidWorks and laser cut the parts. The unit went through three major prototype iterations. The first model was bulky and did not accurately detect the IR signal at the target depth. This was due to the unit tilting as the user performed a squat.
In our second prototype, we aimed to fix the tilt by reducing the unit’s weight and size. Even with improvements, this version continued to have problems detecting the IR signal because it could not be adjusted to fit the needs of all exercise clothing. For example, some people wear lifting suits that don’t have waist bands or they might be wearing high-waisted leggings. We reduced the size of the device even further and secured the IR sensor to an elastic clip that can be attached directly to the user's hip crease regardless of their clothing.
Hip Unit Iterations
1
3
2
Stand Components
