## Inspiration

Grip strength has been shown to be a powerful biomarker for numerous physiological processes. Two particularly compelling examples are Central Nervous System (CNS) fatigue and overall propensity for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD). The core idea is not about building a hand grip strengthening tool, as this need is already largely satisfied within the market by traditional hand grip devices currently. Rather, it is about building a product that leverages the insights behind one’s hand grip to help users make more informed decisions about their physical activities and overall well-being.

## What it does

Gripp is a physical device that users can squeeze to measure their hand grip strength in a low-cost, easy-to-use manner. The resulting measurements can be benchmarked against previous values taken by oneself, as well as comparable peers. These will be used to provide intelligent recommendations on optimal fitness/training protocols through providing deeper, quantifiable insights into recovery.

## How we built it

Gripp was built using a mixture of both hardware and software.

On the hardware front, the project began with a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model of the device. With the requirement to build around the required force sensors and accompanying electronics, the resulting model was customized exclusively for this product, and subsequently, 3-D printed. Other considerations included the ergonomics of holding the device, and adaptability depending on the hand size of the user. Exerting force on the Wheatstone bridge sensor causes it to measure the voltage difference caused by minute changes to resistance. These changes in resistance are amplified by the HX711 amplifier and converted using an ESP32 into a force measurement.

From there, the data flows into a MySQL database hosted in Apache for the corresponding user, before finally going to the front-end interface dashboard.

## Challenges we ran into

There were several challenges that we ran into.

On the hardware side, getting the hardware to consistently output a force value was challenging. Further, listening in on the COM port, interpreting the serial data flowing in from the ESP-32, and getting it to interact with Python (where it needed to be to flow through the Flask endpoint to the front end) was challenging.

On the software side, our team was challenged by the complexities of the operations required, most notably the front-end components, with minimal experience in React across the board.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

Connecting the hardware to the back-end database to the front-end display, and facilitating communication both ways, is what we are most proud of, as it required navigating several complex issues to reach a sound connection.

## What we learned

The value of having another pair of eyes on code rather than trying to individually solve everything. While the latter is often possible, it is a far less efficient (especially when around others) methodology.

## What's next for Gripp

Next for Gripp on the hardware side is continuing to test other prototypes of the hardware design, as well as materials (e.g., a silicon mould as opposed to plastic). Additionally, facilitating the hardware/software connection via Bluetooth.

From a user-interface perspective, it would be optimal to move from a web-based application to a mobile one.

On the front-end side, continuing to build out other pages will be critical (trends, community), as well as additional features (e.g., readiness score).
## Why

Type 2 diabetes can be incredibly tough, especially when it leads to complications. I've seen it firsthand with my uncle, who suffers from peripheral neuropathy. Watching him struggle with insensitivity in his feet, having to go to the doctor regularly for new insoles just to manage the pain and prevent further damage—it’s really painful. It's constantly on my mind how easily something like a pressure sore could become something more serious, risking amputation. It's heartbreaking to see how diabetes quietly affects his everyday life in ways people do not even realize.

## What

Our goal is to create a smart insole for diabetic patients living with type 2 diabetes. This insole is designed with several pressure sensors placed at key points to provide real-time data on the patient’s foot pressure. By continuously processing this data, it can alert both the user and their doctor when any irregularities or issues are detected. What’s even more powerful is that, based on this data, the insole can adjust to help correct the patient’s walking stance. This small but important correction can help prevent painful foot ulcers and, hopefully, make a real difference in their quality of life.

## How we built it

We build an insole with 3 sensors on it (the sensors are a hackathon project on their own), that checks the plantar pressure exerted by the patient. We stream and process the data and feed it to another model sole that changes shape based on the gait analysis so it helps correct the patients walk in realtime.

Concurrently we stream the data out to our dashboard to show recent activity, alerts and live data about a patient's behavior so that doctors can monitor them remotely- and step in if any early signs of neural-degradation .

## Challenges we ran into and Accomplishments that we're proud of

So, we hit a few bumps in the road since most of the hackathon projects were all about software, and we needed hardware to bring our idea to life. Cue the adventure! We were running all over the city—Trader Joe's, Micro Center, local makerspaces—you name it, we were there, hunting for parts to build our force sensor. When we couldn’t find what we needed, we got scrappy. We ended up making our own sensor from scratch using PU foam and a pencil (yep, a pencil!). It was a wild ride of custom electronics, troubleshooting hardware problems, and patching things up with software when we couldn’t get the right parts.

In the end, we’re super proud of what we pulled off—our own custom-built sensor, plus the software to bring it all together. It was a challenge, but we had a blast, and we're thrilled with what we made in the time we had!

## What we learned

Throughout this project, we learned that flexibility and resourcefulness are key when working with hardware, especially under tight time constraints, as we had to get creative with available materials.

As well as this - we learnt a lot about preventative measures that can be taken to reduce the symptoms of diabetes and we have optimistic prospects about how we will can continue to help people with diabetes.

## What's next for Diabeteasy

Everyone in our team has close family affected by diabetes, meaning this is a problem very near and dear to all of us. We strive to continue developing and delivering a prototype to those around us who we can see, first hand, the impact and make improvements to refine the design and execution. We aim to build relations with remote patient monitoring firms to assist within elderly healthcare, since we can provide one value above all; health.
## Inspiration

We are trying to GET JACKED!

## What it does

Form Checker collects and sends balance, form, and technique data from the user while doing pushups to our web app that generates a report on the properness of the form.

## How we built it

We integrated a gyroscope/accelerometer with an ESP-32 to measure changes in relative position and angular velocity in order to create the user's Form information. That information is then sent to a FLASK backend hosted on the cloud. The information is then stored on FireStore and can be retrieved; later displayed on our REACT web app.

## Challenges we ran into

We ran into issues with Full Stack integration, hardware quality & calibration.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of being able to parallelize data acquisition and data pushing using the ESP-32's dual cores. In addition, the frontend has a very clean design and would have shown Form data for a person who did push-ups with our hardware.

## What we learned

We learned how to integrate the various aspects of software development with hardware. Such as creating a React App from scratch and making REST API requests to a Flask backend that's hosted through the Google Cloud Platform and sending the data from the hardware, which is the ESP 32 in our case, to be posted into the data base through our Flask backend. We also learned that maybe having too many things going on isn't the best way to accomplish things, and that next time we'd like to have a narrower focus for our project so the quality of the final product is substantially greater.

## What's next for Jacked the North

Incorporate more exercises so that more people can get jacked and allow people to see their Form data so they can correct minor details in their exercise form.