Traction and push-up counter

Using Arduino Project Guidance
1

I'd like to preface this by saying that I'm very new to arduino and electronics/coding in general. I bought an arduino UNO starter kit because I had an idea in mind but have no idea of where or how to start.

Basically, I would like to build a circuit that tracks my tractions and push-ups. There would be a screen displaying each score, maybe even in different tabs if that's possible. I could then switch between those tabe by pressing a button.

As for counting, I thought of using some sort of sensor, like infrared of ultra sound, where when my head passes in front of it, it adds 1 to the score currently displayed on screen. I'd also like to have some buttons for manual control, 2 for increasing/decreasing the score by 1 in case there is a mistake, and a third one to reset the score to zero.
It'd also be neat if there was like an SD card that stored the scores, so I wouldn't have to worry about it being unplugged.

I'd really appreciate some guidance on this. Thanks in advance!

2

What have you done with the starter kit? What sort of experiments does it offer?

3

I've done some of the projects that it offers, like 4 or 5, but I still understand basically nothing about coding. I really like the building part though. You can make pianos, a magic 8-ball, a "love meter" that uses a heat sensor, and others I have forgotten.

4

start simple

  • 2 buttons, one for push-ups, one for tractions (use button tutorials or a button library)
  • connected to an arduino with a wire
  • when you touch with your head one of the button increases a counter and it gets printed to the Serial monitor

then

  • once this is working, you can add an LCD screen
  • add an SD card
5

Like... physically pressing the button with my head?

6

yes - later on you can use better sensors

the goal at the moment should be for you to start understanding the possibilities of your kit, how you develop for arduino, get a feel for C++ etc

7

That actually sounds fun. The problem is that I have my traction bar set-up on a door frame, and I don't know where I could put the buttons to be able to reach them. Will definetly work for push-ups, though it could get distracting/annoying eventually.

8

on the bar itself, touch it with your chin when you get your head above the bar :slight_smile:

9

Gotta admit, I didn't think of that at all xD I'll definetly look into it. Thanks!

10

Does the kit include anything that looks like one of these?

They're pretty simple to hook up and will do the non-contact thing. Mounting could be as simple as double sided sticky tape.

11

Nope.

12

They're cheap enough. Ones like in the image will provide the same digital (on/off) signal to the Arduino as @J-M-L's button, just closer physically to what (I think) you're after. The advantage of the button is you have one in front of you right now to experiment with.

13

Right, thanks alot!

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