[Update: A reader informed us that he or she has ready-made workout pants similar to the one described here available for purchase online. So if you don't have time to DIY, you know where to go.]
We wrote about our positive experience with the Wii exercise "game" EA SPORTS Active a while ago and also demonstrated how to make a replacement resistance band for better workouts. Now, let's tackle another accessory of EA SPORTS Active: the leg strap, or more accurately, how to eliminate the leg strap from your workout equation.
For people who are not familiar with EA SPORTS Active, the leg strap is that dark gray colored holster around the lady's right thigh in the photo above. It holds a Wii nunchuk controller on top of the user's thigh. If you have some experience designing fashion technology or physical computing projects, you understand the challenges of capturing body movements and postures electronically. One technology that can be used for motion capture is video tracking, analyzing a live video feed to determine the user's postures. It is not easy to get it right and is also more costly, due to the need of a camera. EA, on the other hand, came up with a rather ingenious solution: fastening the nunchuk controller to your thigh to track your leg position. However, two annoyances were created because of this. One is the wire running between the Wii remote and nunchuk and the other the leg strap.
As you can see in the video above, the controller wire flaps around when you exercise—not cool. It's easy to solve though. Simply get a wireless nunchuk controller such as this one or this one, and say goodbye to the nuisance. The leg strap can also be eliminated if you are willing to do some simple DIY. Just follow the instructions below to sew a nunchuk pocket onto your workout pants.
Materials
Steps
If this seems too low-tech to you, Ubisoft has an answer. The company will release a controller-free exercise game called Your Shape on November 24th, using the aforementioned video tracking technology. Through a bundled camera, the software supposedly will follow your movement and guide you accordingly. Sounds pretty awesome doesn' it? Let's hope it actually works as advertised.
Source: IGN and EA
Added October 15, 2009 2 comments »
Posted by Fang
Comments
I just updated the post to include a link to your site. Thanks for sharing!
Saturday, February 13, 2010 - 13:09
Hi any chance you can do a followup article on my website? We do something very similar to what is described here :)
http://comfortpocketshorts.x10hosting.com/index.htm
Thursday, February 11, 2010 - 14:04