Being able to keep oneself accountable while working out is a vital component to almost any good exercise plan, since repetition is the key to success. In response to their significant other wanting a way to track their workouts throughout the week, Instructables user smooth_jamie set out to build a highly interactive device that gives the person using it motivation to continue on after accomplishing the day’s goal. 

The project largely consists of a large rectangular enclosure, which houses a series of seven 128×32 OLED screens, along with a single push button next to each one. Just across from the displays is a string of WS2812B LEDs that correspond to that day’s achievement or lack thereof. Jamie had run into the issue of the OLEDs having hardcoded I2C addresses, so they were forced to use an I2C multiplexer breakout. They also wanted for the device to play a short song to really commemorate meeting that day’s goal, so a speaker and amplifier circuit was added onto the Arduino Mega.

The final step of building this daily run tracker was the code, as it had to handle several different tasks. New targets are entered by holding down a given day’s button and then using the up and down buttons to set it. When the actual distance is entered, the string of RGB LEDs will begin to flash and a tune plays if the goal is met, and the LED next to it turns either red or green afterwards as a reminder.

To read more about the project, you can view its Instructable here and check out a short demo below!