PriusHacker
11-11-2009, 02:29 PM
The major Android phones on the market (G1, Droid, etc) have Bluetooth and USB connectors, and I wish that somebody would use this connectivity to create some new Android monitoring gadgets, for example:
-- A heart rate monitor - for athletic, not medical use
-- An oximeter (blood oxygen monitor) - for athletic, not medical use
-- An ODB to USB adapter to monitor modern cars like the Prius
I have searched for these monitoring toys to no avail; does anybody know of existing products in these niches?
Sites like ThinkGeek, EnGadget, and even Amazon already have affordable stand-alone heart rate monitors and oximeters. However, I cannot yet find versions of those toys with USB or Bluetooth connectivity. Even after we get that connectivity, we still need to write Android drivers and Android apps to collect workout data. Wouldn't that be cool for our workouts, if we could add heart and oxygen data to our google maps data and pedometer data on Android phones.
With basic soldering skills, you can build an automotive ODB-to-USB adapter at home (Search for 'Simple USB to OBD2 adapter on PIC18F2455'). With an ODB monitor, I could adapt existing open source Linux programs onto the Android, to monitor the Prius's three tachometers, intake manifold pressure, engine temperature, oil pressure, kilowatts in or out of the battery, kilowatts into motor generator 2, etc. You do not have to modify the Prius to do this; the Prius ODB plug already provides this data.
-- A heart rate monitor - for athletic, not medical use
-- An oximeter (blood oxygen monitor) - for athletic, not medical use
-- An ODB to USB adapter to monitor modern cars like the Prius
I have searched for these monitoring toys to no avail; does anybody know of existing products in these niches?
Sites like ThinkGeek, EnGadget, and even Amazon already have affordable stand-alone heart rate monitors and oximeters. However, I cannot yet find versions of those toys with USB or Bluetooth connectivity. Even after we get that connectivity, we still need to write Android drivers and Android apps to collect workout data. Wouldn't that be cool for our workouts, if we could add heart and oxygen data to our google maps data and pedometer data on Android phones.
With basic soldering skills, you can build an automotive ODB-to-USB adapter at home (Search for 'Simple USB to OBD2 adapter on PIC18F2455'). With an ODB monitor, I could adapt existing open source Linux programs onto the Android, to monitor the Prius's three tachometers, intake manifold pressure, engine temperature, oil pressure, kilowatts in or out of the battery, kilowatts into motor generator 2, etc. You do not have to modify the Prius to do this; the Prius ODB plug already provides this data.