If only the couch potato generation(s) had a personal trainer to follow us around at all times. This low-paid underling would, ideally, forcibly remove pizza from our hands and drag us by the arms to the gym and the basketball court. They’d also jump up and down loudly if we were spending too much time on the couch Googling videos of dogs licking cats. Well, most of us aren’t Mitt Romney and, as such, can’t afford to hire a physically fit human being to follow us around like a muscular puppy dog. The rest of us have technology for that!
The Personal Energy Orb was developed to be the annoying personal trainer for the 99%. We hate need to be cajoled into working out too! This arduino-powered device, developed by two students at the University of Munich for their physical computing course, connects to a bike-mounted revolution counter. The PEO keeps track of how much you’ve been riding and associates that amount with how long you can use your personal computer. That’s right. If you don’t exercise you will not be watching one single dog lick one single cat. That’s some harsh punishment right there.
The idea, the project’s creators say, is to annoy the user off of the computer and back on to their bike. It sure sounds annoying. Here’s exactly how it works. When the orb is green you are good to go. Surf at will. When it’s red, however, it automatically adjusts your cursor sensitivity to its absolute lowest. Aggravation, and hopefully exercise, ensues. Here’s a video of the orb in action. Watch it before your own PEO turns red.
