Push-up Pal

The Push-up Pal is a device that I made largely for fun. It was intended to motivate me to "do my push-ups." It accomplishes this by gamifying the process through lights, sounds, and motivational messages, as well as by holding me accountable throughout each individual rep by detecting my weight. The device is made mostly of wood, foam board, wires, LEDs, buttons, an LCD, and an Arduino.

Overall, this project was a bit simpler on the computational side, with each button/light aspect being relatively straightforward; however, it was a demanding process in terms of fabrication. When I began to lay out my game plan, I realized that creating a clean finish that could support my weight on top of a network of electronics would involve some creativity (embedding my wires within a layer of foam). Overall, the push-up machine took many hours of fabrication, and much of the work is hidden underneath the top layer; nonetheless, I'm happy with how closely the final device fit my initial vision.

Detailed documentation of my fabrication journey can be found here:

https://sites.google.com/andrew.cmu.edu/60-223-s25/project-2-documentation/rongrong-wang-push-up-machine?authuser=0