PosturePal is a sophisticated wellness application that transforms posture correction into a rewarding RPG experience. Designed with the long study sessions of college students in mind, it combines Computer Vision, AI deep learning models (MediaPipe) and a deep progression system. It helps users build better habits through instant, auditory, and customizable feedback with it open in another tab.
Bad posture at a computer is harmful because it causes chronic musculoskeletal issues, including neck/back pain, weakened muscles, and spinal disc compression. Slouching and forward head posture add up to 60 lbs of pressure on the neck, leading to "tech neck," nerve compression, rounded shoulders, and headaches. We study for a long time. Also, studying isn't usually regarded as fun. We built this to democratize spinal health for students and low-income remote workers who don't have access to professional office setups.
Core features: It uses an intelligent biometric calibration window with the pressing of the Set Baseline button, mapping the user's unique baseline position and alignment. Utilizing the Google MediaPipe library, specifically landmarks 0, 11, and 12 (the nose, left shoulder, and right shoulder), it tracks the movement of the nose along a coordinate plane in relation to the shoulders. It also tracks Z-axis depth, to account for distance from the screen. It also warns you of uneven shoulders.
Taking the y-coordinates of the nose, leftShoulder, and rightShoulder, it finds the average Y-position of the shoulders and calculates the distance. The ratio of NoseGap/baselineNoseToShoulderGap has a green optimal state of 85% or higher (> 0.85), and critical if the ratio falls below 85% (< 0.85), which triggers an alert sound.
Health apps usually fail because they are boring. By gamifying wellness, we turn a community health chore into a rewarding habit-building game. You can earn XP and leel up from "Slouch Newbie" to "Posture God". Higher levels increase coin-earning efficiency. A dual-currency system (Coins and Bundlits) allows users to unlock 15+ custom alert sounds, including "Meme" and "Horror" packs. These are tracked in the achievements section.
All pose estimation is processed locally via the browser, ensuring privacy first; no data is ever transmitted to a server. This solves a major community concern: Safety. Seniors or students are often wary of "camera apps." Because this app transmits zero data to the cloud, it is a "Safety-by-Design" product. It is also practical and free of cost, being able to work on any device (but optimized for desktop, as that's where you usually study).
For demo purposes, the AI is a bit stricter to easily show its function. It can also work via mobile video, with the inclusion of playsinline` and muted. Also, by using MediaPipe, we allows the browser to talk directly to the GPU.
What's next for PosturePal?: Along with improving sound packages, we plan to further strengthen the accuracy of the bad posture readings, and make it more customizable to the user.
