Biofeedback Entertainment System

This post is a bit different from what I have written before, but I thought I would write a little bit about one of my latest fun projects. It is a biofeedback system where I combine exercise and entertainment.

I am working on an innovative method to simulate powering my entertainment experience via my heart rate. The basic biofeedback prototype is working. Currently using ActiveKeys to control volume and Gamma Panel to control monitor brightness. Heart rate information is sent to the computer wirelessly via PC POD (Heart rate belt and USB stick ~$129). The heart rate belt communicates on Com4 using the ANT protocol. I wrote a perl script (thanks to Iomule) that can capture the heart rate information from the belt.

I currently have three heart rate zones set up. I have an ideal zone, an ok zone, and a bad zone. As my heart rate goes from the ideal zone to the bad zone the monitor will get darker, and the volume will diminish. As it goes from the bad zone to the ideal, it reaches optimal levels. Still need to work on incorporating rumble from the wireless 360 controller into the biofeedback system. Plan on using Xpadder (remaps the controller keys) to add increasing levels of rumble the further I am from my target zone.

So now I can play Guild Wars with a wireless 360 controller for Windows (quite a few keys mapped for this one) while I work out on my elliptical and my workout level affects the experience. Pretty cool, this works for watching movies as well.