Feel like breaking out of your streaming-induced vegetative state but can’t seem to break the binge-watching cycle? Maybe you’re a candidate for this exercise bike that controls how much Netflix you watch.
The concept behind [Roboro]’s anti-couch potato build is simple — just keep pedaling and you get to keep watching. The details are pretty simple too and start with an Arduino monitoring the signal coming from a jack thoughtfully provided by the manufacturer of his exercise bike. The frequency of the square wave is translated into a speed which a Python script on a PC reads over USB. Once a Netflix stream is started, dropping below the user-defined speed pauses the movie. The video below shows it doing its thing.
Improvements readily spring to mind, like adding a speed buffer so that pedaling faster lets you bank some streaming time and earn a rest. Maybe it could somehow integrate with these Netflix-enabled socks, or even with the Netflix and Chill button. But those sort of defeat the purpose a bit.
Yesterday, I was watching Netflix and it did that “Are you there?” thing. I was too lazy to pick up my phone and hit the play button so I just told Google Home to start the show I was watching. It picked up right were it left off.
LOL!
I have a response to your comment, but I’m too lazy to post it.
Wow, I thought I was lazy by remoting into my media PC from my phone because the mouse was 2 inches too far from where I was laying…
I wonder if this would REDUCE the number of hours my daughter watches TV…
B^)
No worries if it doesn’t reduce the time she watches netflix, at least she’ll be a lot healthier :)
Also I doubt it’s the same for everybody but I’m finding distractions actually improve my exercise endurance significantly. In my case I think it’s partly a matter of keeping me from noticing my own breathing and getting it stuck in the conscious action arena.
it’s a common trope in sports, distracting yourself from the effort. You might need a watchdog, tho, because you might slow down while thinking about something else.
Somehow it’s the oppisite for me. I enjoy TV and I enjoy running, but watching TV on the treadmill is excruciatingly boring for some weird reason.
Unfortunately cycling does not cause me to lose weight unlike walking, Bike all day long.
Exercise bike plus alternator powering a laptop.
Pedal harder to bank power into the battery. ;)
That’s a much better idea!
I kept threatening my kids I’d make something like that.
I ended up throwing the tv out,
+1 for good parenting. Make those kids play outside.
“+1 for good parenting. Make those kids play outside.”
you mean watch outside? because that’s where he put the tv apparently ;)
Ooh, a system where the goal is to make it really inefficient! That’d be a fun little design project.
This is just stupid – and boring – and done before.
just like your comment
I disagree my good sir!
Done before and then some. It’s a “common trope”. Soylent Green did it in the 70s, and they weren’t the first to think of it.
Now that I think about it, Last time I saw it in media was in Rick And Morty where he creates and tricks an entire civilization to power his car in a variation of the concept. I think I can count it as the same setup right?
With this bike you can power a Netflix session to watch the episode of Black Mirror about pedaling a bike to power …
I’ve been binging Black Mirror for the past two weeks, why didn’t I think of that haha. Should’ve made a merit system too
But, will this work for most of the rest of the world?
I see it is designed with pounds and inches in mind…
Well, it will require another microprocessor to do the conversions…
or an abacus.
Slide rule hahaha.
I can convert that Netflix bicycle to shed stones and kilowhatzits for only twelve easy payments of USD $49.95, plus shipping and handling.
In Canada we use metric primarily but we still use imperial units to measure body weight, the increments are more practical, same thing in construction with feet and inches.
I guess I kind of assumed most of the rest of the world did the same, is this not case? Excuse my ignorance.
Metric all round ( well mostly) in Australia
Wow, I had a lot of trouble with this title. I had a vision of a robotic shed inching towards the back door and pounding on it to get my attention away from Westworld…
LOL
At first I read the title as “shed this imperial units” in favor of metric ones. So finally convert from imperial to a useful, decimal based (!) unit system.
This should be a mandatory installation in all Southern home.
They should put them in Walmarts!