Propellor :- Laser spoke detector "Interactive Roller Experience" Parts 1 to 5
Stage 0 :- Propellor Based - Bike Rollers - Draft Idea Stage
I am an avid Bike rider and now winter is approaching the idea of jumping on my "Rollers" during the dark evenings to keep up the fitness campaign frankly gives me no incentive .....at all ..... nada ..... however it has to be done (i am not the only one for sure).
My Guess is there could be quite a market in the racing Cyclist community for the proposed ideas below..
Riding 30-60 minutes on "Rollers" is pretty boring......... I want to change this ....
My Wish is to install my "EasyProp" Propellor chip into the set up, i already have a composite video screen and heart monitor.
As well as the normal (boring) speed/distance/calorie-burn/cadence parameters........
i recon i could also more importantly include on the screen. (in priority order).
I made a system with the Arduino last year ......but the propellor chip has so much more to offer......
So Any radical....abstract ..... inspiring ideas would be greatly welcome.
The Video (Slo_mo_ish) shows my set up - the rollers are plastic (generates a mega amount lot of static) , with ball bearing races, speeds of 60+ Km/hr is possible on these types or "Rollers".
Stage 1 :- "Interactive Roller Experience Begins"
So the Build has Started.........
My first real dive into "Spin" Processing.......... using an "EasyProp" propellor board........
Its been an interesting time learning how to setup input and output digitals , also setting up the Multi-tasking was a bonus.
It was also a simple task to set up the Video output to my Dispaly Gui that will fit onto my bike.
My brain hurts from trying to understand the time_ing and crystal settings and multiplyer constants.....
.....however the results are positive and my system is able to time (in milliseconds) the wheel rotations consistantly, bit more maths and the start of the basic speedo is set........then the interactive fun can begin.Stage 2 :- "Interactive Roller Experience" Display Gui
At last i have cracked my Propellor/Spin Display Gui headache using a combination of the tv.spin and graphics.spin object files.
The basic "Speedo" stage is complete giving me a much more satisfying digital and analog gauge to watch (already 1-up on the traditional cycle speedometers).
Next to install is Min/Max/Average speed/odometer (easy) .....Heart rate and pedal cadence (both needing extra tronics - not so easy)
My wish is to replace the magnet/reedswitch with a laser that would count each spoke.....hmmmmm
![rollersGUI.jpg](https://forums.parallax.com/uploads/attachments/63065/76986.jpg)
Stage 3 :- laser spoke detector "Interactive Roller Experience"
Out with the reed-switch in with the lasered 32 spoke detector.
What this means is instead of 1 pulse per revolution of the wheel .....i have instead 32 (one pulse/spoke) ..... meaning a much faster update of my speed.
Video explains the details...........
Stage 4 :- Laser Roller Install
Permanent install of laser/photo transistor brackets and circuit walk-though.
As the laser needs to be pretty "Solid", i decided to install it using metal brackets.... so ......
..... it aint gonna move and miss-align whilst i hit 60Km/sec
Stage 5 :- "Major Nichols" hits the Rollers - laser wheel encoder
One Etape closer.........
Decided it was time to try out my "Laser wheel encoder - Propellor Rig" with my actual racing bike :-
Starting to get the hang of the Propellors Display Gui.
Sporting in chronological order
I am an avid Bike rider and now winter is approaching the idea of jumping on my "Rollers" during the dark evenings to keep up the fitness campaign frankly gives me no incentive .....at all ..... nada ..... however it has to be done (i am not the only one for sure).
My Guess is there could be quite a market in the racing Cyclist community for the proposed ideas below..
Riding 30-60 minutes on "Rollers" is pretty boring......... I want to change this ....
My Wish is to install my "EasyProp" Propellor chip into the set up, i already have a composite video screen and heart monitor.
As well as the normal (boring) speed/distance/calorie-burn/cadence parameters........
i recon i could also more importantly include on the screen. (in priority order).
- Interactive games.... what would be fitting games during training ?
- MP3 or wav playing.... with fitting high rev music.......but what ?.
- recording and storing training profiles.
I made a system with the Arduino last year ......but the propellor chip has so much more to offer......
So Any radical....abstract ..... inspiring ideas would be greatly welcome.
The Video (Slo_mo_ish) shows my set up - the rollers are plastic (generates a mega amount lot of static) , with ball bearing races, speeds of 60+ Km/hr is possible on these types or "Rollers".
Stage 1 :- "Interactive Roller Experience Begins"
So the Build has Started.........
My first real dive into "Spin" Processing.......... using an "EasyProp" propellor board........
Its been an interesting time learning how to setup input and output digitals , also setting up the Multi-tasking was a bonus.
It was also a simple task to set up the Video output to my Dispaly Gui that will fit onto my bike.
My brain hurts from trying to understand the time_ing and crystal settings and multiplyer constants.....
.....however the results are positive and my system is able to time (in milliseconds) the wheel rotations consistantly, bit more maths and the start of the basic speedo is set........then the interactive fun can begin.Stage 2 :- "Interactive Roller Experience" Display Gui
At last i have cracked my Propellor/Spin Display Gui headache using a combination of the tv.spin and graphics.spin object files.
The basic "Speedo" stage is complete giving me a much more satisfying digital and analog gauge to watch (already 1-up on the traditional cycle speedometers).
Next to install is Min/Max/Average speed/odometer (easy) .....Heart rate and pedal cadence (both needing extra tronics - not so easy)
My wish is to replace the magnet/reedswitch with a laser that would count each spoke.....hmmmmm
![rollersGUI.jpg](https://forums.parallax.com/uploads/attachments/63065/76986.jpg)
Stage 3 :- laser spoke detector "Interactive Roller Experience"
Out with the reed-switch in with the lasered 32 spoke detector.
What this means is instead of 1 pulse per revolution of the wheel .....i have instead 32 (one pulse/spoke) ..... meaning a much faster update of my speed.
Video explains the details...........
Stage 4 :- Laser Roller Install
Permanent install of laser/photo transistor brackets and circuit walk-though.
As the laser needs to be pretty "Solid", i decided to install it using metal brackets.... so ......
..... it aint gonna move and miss-align whilst i hit 60Km/sec
Stage 5 :- "Major Nichols" hits the Rollers - laser wheel encoder
One Etape closer.........
Decided it was time to try out my "Laser wheel encoder - Propellor Rig" with my actual racing bike :-
Starting to get the hang of the Propellors Display Gui.
Sporting in chronological order
- Speed (combined analog&digital style)
- Max Speed
- Average Speed
- Number of Spokes counted (so cooooooool - i am more excited about this than anything else at MoMo)
- Some strange timer thingy which will be the odometer.
- Trip Time Counter (ie when bike stops so does the timer)
Comments
Wonderful project, love the GUI interface!
Several weeks ago I stumbled across your well done YouTube videos and wondered if you were in the Propeller forum. Now I know! Nice job on your project, it is very practical. I like it a lot.
If you would like to collaborate, or are just interested, I have been working (very slowly) on a similar project. The only difference is the display and the number of riders. I am also an avid bike rider and want to make a device that reduces the boredom of solo roller riding during long, cold and dark New Hampshire winters. This Prop based system will monitor at least 2 riders and provide graphical and numerical ride data on a TV screen allowing 2 or more riders to go for a virtual "club ride". The riders could play games such as staying with the virtual pack despite back and forth challenges from each other. Rider icons on the TV, identifiable by color, would shown relative position. Total distance and current speed would be shown above each icon.
I have been concentrating on learning how to do the graphics, which has been a slow process. Would you like to collaborate on this project?
Lev
Sorry for delay getting back too you..... due to some pressing work i have had to put my "Roller Project" on the back boiler for a while..... indefinitely @momo
I was a time trial-ist (Club:- Port Talbot Wheelers) before leaving settling in Switzerland - clean air and mega mountain climbs.(heaven for me)
I am still thinking about directions to go in....... due to the low res graphics i feel effort would be better spent creating more of an informative type display . ie more race parameters or heartbeat etcetc.
I know in some clubs they have "roller" competitions - if two riders are pace-ing each other then maybe a "Swing-O-meter" would be more fitting and competitive than Virtual tour (i feel this would need more PC processing).
The SwingOmeter would be like a needle pointer or bar graph - then when one rider is faster than the other.... the pointer would lean into his ballpark giving points....... then at least the trailing rider could see how much he has to pull back.
Gareth
Yes it is very stable even at high speed -(the faster you go the more it sticks in one place) the back and slave (rubberband) driven front wheel trusts a back force gyro vector ...... what you see with my rollers is a very simple system ... there are floating systems which allows the whole bike to vector forwards and backwards making it even more stable allowing you to even stand out of the saddle and push even more speed.
ErNa
"tv.obj" "graphics.obj" "F32.obj" using the GraphicsPaletteHelper.spin code and basically a separate cog for the Laser detect and timer.
I can highly recommend the GraphicsPaletteHelper code.
My code is still experimental and is far from finished.......