There are a ton of different health and fitness tracking devices available. These devices range from simple pedometers, to complex devices that track all sorts of fitness data. These devices are great and all, but if you want to track different data, or hack together your own device, there are not many options out there. That is until now. On October 20, BITalino launched their hackable quantified self hardware/software kit on Kickstarter:
BITalino is a low-cost, purpose-built, all-in-one hardware and software toolkit designed for quick and easy creation of cool projects with body signals, development of quantified self wearable devices or apps, and/or learning how to build medical devices. Comparative professional-grade tools for this purpose can easily cost in excess of $10,000; our vision is to make them available for anyone, and harness the power and creative thinking of the open-source movement to boost innovation in biosignal-based applications in unprecedented ways.1
Though the BITalino board is incredibly versatile with a little work, it comes with built in Arduino ccompatible software/hardware blocks with sensors that measure: “Electrocardiography (ECG), Electromyography (EMG), Electrodermal Activity (EDA), Accelerometry (ACC), and Ambient Light (LUX), including Bluetooth Low Energy wireless communication to a software toolkit to see the signals in real time or replay offline.”2 Although it is simple to get the board up an running, and measuring the standard fitness/health indicators, there are some incredibly unique uses already popping up: “muscle activated air drones to heart-rate monitoring bicycle handlebars, smart / enchanted objects, interactive installations, or affordable medical devices and personal diagnostics apps.”3
You can per-order the BITalino for $129 from the Kickstarter Campaign. Here is a good look at the functionality of the board, and some of the capabilities:
