iGym—A RaspberryPi-smartphone hybrid system for better entertaining treadmill users

Physical exercising has always had an important impact on humans' health. Lack of motivation is one of the major reasons that keeps a person from exercising. To overcome this problem, new solutions are needed to provide weight watchers and fitness seekers motivation to exercise indoors. This paper presents iGym, a low cost and flexible system that enhances humans' workout experience. This system lets treadmills' users, spinning bikes and stair steppers enjoy their exercising sessions by projecting a walking or cycling scenery in front of them. Hence, this system allows the user of such machines to discover the cities of the world and nature sceneries while exercising at home or at the gym. With the help of his smartphone, the user only needs to select the path he would like to discover. This path will be displayed on a TV screen or large screen in front of him. To synchronize the real traveled distance to the one projected in the scenery, the speed of movement in the scenery is adjusted in real-time per the walking and running speed of the user. The speed of the user is acquired using his smartphone. Our project implies an interconnection of a Raspberry Pi with a Smartphone application and a server. This system has been implemented and several tests were conducted to prove its correct functionality.