Sit Fit

Felipe Correa, Jessie Jin, Dennis Ephraim, Luke Wang

18 Million

That's how many college students there are in the United States alone, sitting on average 11 hours a day. Sitting for extended periods of time can lead to higher risk of cardiovascular diseases and a number of other negative effects.

Prolonged sitting poses a multifaceted help risk. How might we help people who sit all day develop better sitting habits that help mitigate the negative effects of sitting?

For Who?

We designed Sit Fit for people who spend a lot of the day sitting, with students and workers mainly in mind.

125 Survey Respondents

8 In-person Interviews

3 Experts Interviewed

3 Iterations

19 User Tests

Design Goals

Easy to use
Convenient
Cost-effective (comparable/cheaper than Apple Watch/FitBit)
Comfortable to wear
Effective in getting people to stand after 30 minutes to 1 hour

Prototype Evolution

How It Works

A user puts on the device and plugs in the battery to the Bluefruit Microcontroller, turning it on
The built-in accelerometer on the microcontroller detects when the user is sitting, starting a timer
After a set amount of time passes (usually between 30m-1hr), the microcontroller will set off the vibration motor, gradually increasing with strength as time passes
After the user stands and moves around, the vibration will stop, the display on the wristband will show an option of what activity they can do for a break, and the system also tracks their standing streak as well as rewarding points

Results

We created a prototype that was overall effective in our main goal of getting users to stand up periodically. We tested with 5 users for our most recent iteration, and asked them to rate each metric out of 10:

Ease of Use: ~9.6/10 (10 being easiest)

Convenience: ~8.6/10 (10 being most convenient)

Cost: ~$50

Comfort: ~8/10 (10 being most comfortable)

Effectiveness: ~8.2/10 (10 being most effective)

While all of our design goals were rated highly with user testing, they are all still in progress, as the design is still in a prototype state and not a finished product.

Future Plans

Smaller form factor
Better detection of standing versus sitting
"Do not disturb" mode for when you are driving, taking a test, etc.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Dr. Samosky, all of the instructional staff in ENGR 0716 The Art of Making, our experts Dr. Robert Kowalsky, Barbara Hois, and Dr. April Chambers, as well as all of the users we tested with for their support.

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