Hercules

Find a way to adapt common gym tools for a reduced gravity environment and design a workout routine that can minimize bone and muscular loss while being fun and easy to use during a long term mission. In doing so consider constraints regarding weight (equipment should weigh less than 500kg) and dimensions. Consider incorporating virtual reality to simulate a jog through an astronaut’s favorite Earth destinations or incorporate gaming to motivate users.

Our solution consists in: a workout machine, a VR running environment and an app for managing routines and gamifying the experience. The workout machine consists in a a running treadmill, a series of elastic exercise bands and a series of attachments for simulating earth’s gravity. Its design allows NASA to port existing workout routines with simple adaptations. The VR experience consists in a series of paths where the astronauts used to run, helping them feel at home. The app lets the user choose from different workout routines, challenge their colleagues and users from earth. Throughout the whole experience the user’s biometric data is collected with wearables to allow live data analysis, helping experts correct and detect problems before they arise. We consider crucial the astronauts mental health, that’s why we chose fun, friendly and competitive activities making them feel less homesick.

Ionic, Genexus, Buemix Instant Runtimes, Adobe Photoshop, Inventor, Fusion 360, Adobe Premier and Inkscape