Virtual Band

Virtual Band

Inspiration

Running on a treadmill is not nearly as enjoyable as running outside. But due to weather and time constraints sometimes that is our only choice. We were inspired by this to create an app that allows you to run through a 3D level of your choice using just your treadmill, a tablet and your Microsoft Band.

What it does

The app allows you to put your tablet or phone on your treadmill and run through a virtual world either by yourself or with your friends.

How we built it

We built a Universal Windows Platform (UWP) application using Unity 3d, the Microsoft Band API's, SignalR and Azure.

Challenges we ran into

Our main constraint was time. We wanted to implement additional levels, voice commands to allow users to choose different paths and animated avatars. We also fought with TFS source control because of how Unity handles files. The MS Band API could not be referenced directly by Unity therefore was written in the UWP layer and used messaging to communication with Unity.

What's next for Virtual Band

We think the app turned out really good for the time that we had. We would like to use voice recognition to be able to let the user decide which routes to take in a particular level. We also would like to add additional levels - like beaches, cities or parks. Finally we would like to add in animated characters to represent friends who are playing with you.

We had a great time at the Hackathon - thanks Microsoft Build!