AW - MuscFlex

If you can't flex, MuscFlex got it going for you. If you can flex, MuscFlex supports you. Emphasising on affordability, MuscFlex is flexing on you, for you. :)

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Hi, I'm Yu Xuan. Here's the story :)

Inspiration

By continually working our core muscles, it would promote blood circulation and the continuous repair of healthy muscles. In order for muscles to be healthy, we should stretch and exercise daily. However, for some people they may not be able to do that due to various reasons such as old age, and medical complications etc.

As there is an increasing amount of elderly in our population there will be an increase in dependency on another way to maintain healthy muscles and blood circulation. Based on projections from United Nations, 47% of Singapore's total population will be aged 65 years or older in 2050.

Also, in extreme cases, humans may be lazy to ensure that their muscles are moving.

Therefore it would be useful if there is a system that can move the muscles on the behalf of the user. There are limited niche options as well, most of which are either static braces, or fairly expensive for the end user.

MuscFlex may/may not come about from the term Must Flex, meaning that with this product, you have to flex your muscles :)

What it does

MuscFlex is a simple mechanism that can be hopefully cheaply replicated via 3D printing and an arduino nano with some simple components etc. It's primary goal is to move the forearms up and down similar to doing dumbbell curls.

Limit switches will be installed at the limits of the joint movement to further restrict the movement and chance of the servo motors going wrong.

There will be an emergency stop system so that the human don't go wrong, in case things go wrong.

How I built it

Mechanism: Opted to use a single servo to drive the mechanical arm, with 3D printed supports for the forearm and the arm.

Switches: Two limit switches to denote maximum places, a button to start the system, and an emergency stop button that resets the position to the resting position as well.

Code: Coded using Arduino IDE,

Prototype: Prototyped using a mini servo and some pictures of arms (drawn to the best of my ability)

Emergency stop system: Stops the system and only allows the restarting of the movement when MuscFlex is turned off and on again.

Challenges I ran into

The main challenge was that i had to work with what i brought to the hackathon, which was quite restricted.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

I am proud of managing to at least complete the coding aspect of it despite it being a small prototype with the handful of resources i had. All that is needed to be done is to merge the code and components together to form a viable product.

What I learned

  1. If what i need is not available, i can go back to the drawing board and simplify the program.
  2. There are many ways to get a task done, therefore i don't have to stick to a preset methodology that i thought of.

What's next for MuscFlex

MuscFlex can be improved by maybe making it compatible with Bluetooth and adding different modes of flexing, such as the speed, number of times it flexes on you, for you.

MuscFlex can also be scaled up to assist in the movement of other muscles that is interconnected with a joint in a similar fashion.

Might also be working on a working life size prototype with better motors, with more safety features if i have the resources to carry on. Some examples may be a pressure sensor that detects if the arms cant be pushed further, or a sound sensor that activates when the person screams in pain (:

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