The five minute Fitbit hack

And this is what you get for bragging...


My 40-year running buddy JM, distressed and beleaguered former Iraq vet that he is, was recently beset with a Fitbit...corporate America has burdened him with the task of proving his manhood by walking at least 10,000 steps a day.

After listening to his combination of guilty-conscienctiousness and frustrated bitching for a few weeks, I begin to brag...'I can, in five minutes, write-a -program/wire-up-some-hardware that will obviate your physical participation in this ridiculous encumberation.'

And after 10,000 legitimate steps on the river walk, several beers on the porch, and a fantastically unusual Oregon Indian summer Sunday afternoon, I realized I would be forced to walk the walk.  Fair enough!  Results are below.  My hardware setup consisted of an Arduino Uno, three jumper wires to the servo (Radio Shack 'standard'), a 5" long 1/8" wood dowel, some cellophane tape...and the logger module from JM's fitness torture device.

And, voila...the quintessential 19-line Arduino program that will allow you to win that case of Gatorade at the company pool next week.

/* servo slew 1 */
//
//
#include <Servo.h>
Servo myservo;

void setup() {
  pinMode(13, OUTPUT);
  myservo.attach(3);
}

void loop() {
  int x, y;
  digitalWrite(13, HIGH);
  x = random(650, 1200);
  myservo.writeMicroseconds(x);
  y = random(350, 600);
  delay(y);
  digitalWrite(13, LOW);
  x = random(1000, 2050);
  myservo.writeMicroseconds(x);
  y = random(350, 600);
  delay(y);
}

The blinks of the LED on pin 13 aren't strictly necessary, just there for debugging purposes.  I randomized the delays as well as the right- and left- slew to simulate the uneven gait of most walkers.  My first attempt was even shorter, simply slewing between 20 and 120 degrees and back, once per second, but the Fitbit module didn't log near as many steps that way...

Forthwith, JM and I adjourned to the local brew pub for some quality hours with our favorite blend of mere Irishness and outright beligerence; two hours and ten minutes, four 22-ounce pints, and several thousand jokes in questionable taste later....

11,500 steps!

We do NOT feel guilty about this.  It is as if Everest were in our back yard, and Sir Edmund Hillary had asked us if we would like to tag along for a little hike.  JM ended up with 25,000 for the day and quite a bit of good will with the waitresses...