StressCam - an application to control stress, biological age and improve well-being

Hello! Our EMVIO project (more details here and here ) on measuring stress continues. From the time of the company at Kickstarter, when we did not manage to collect the necessary amount for mass production, we managed to participate in interesting niche projects with prototypes. For example, participation in a pilot project of a large Russian bank for the control of the psycho-emotional state of call center operators and in a project of the R & D Center “Aero Bracelet” for monitoring the condition of athletes during flights as part of the Sukhoi Sportjet concept. This wonderful experience allowed us to test our technology and get rid of the “childhood diseases” of firmware and circuitry.

While we do not have a serial sample, and there is a collection of pre-orders from the site , we decided to release an application for the iPhone, with which any user can see how our technology works without the need to purchase a bracelet. Measuring stress is based on using the camera and flash light as a pulse sensor.

Stresscam

The program is called StressCam. You can follow the link , see the description, clip with the interface and download for sample. There is also additional information in the question-answer mode on our website .
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Briefly about the functionality: StressCam is an application to control stress and improve well-being, which in 2 minutes determines the level of stress and biological age. According to our plan, the program provides an opportunity to improve the condition with the help of respiratory training in the mode of biological feedback (BFB). The application tracks the health and progress of workouts.

Here are some screenshots:

What are we measuring?

1. The level of stress. The application measures your stress by increasing the activity of the sympathetic component of the autonomic nervous system. The algorithm is based on the analysis of heart rate variability (HRV). The stress level is rated on a scale from 0 (excellent) to 10 (bad). This algorithm completely repeats the version for the bracelet, with a slight adaptation to the sensor in the form of a camera and a flash and the registration conditions.

2. Biological age. We consider this parameter a new feature, which is currently implemented only in the application, and now we are implementing it in a bracelet. This parameter reflects your life reserves from the position of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Biological age is calculated by analyzing the respiratory component of the heart rhythm. In the course of the pilot projects, we collected some statistics on the relevance of respiratory artifacts on the pulse and the age of the subjects, and also used the practical experience gained by other researchers. As a result, a statistical model of the dependence of the depth of breathing on a person’s age was laid into the program, which has a physiological basis.

3. And, of course, pulse!

Why iOS?

This is our first experience in developing a mobile application and we decided to choose a platform with a limited number of options. Also, it was important to us that in the iPhone the flash cell camera has only 5 sizes and this simplified the testing of the pulse registration algorithm.

Training in PE

In our version, a full-fledged training in the biofeedback mode is implemented. The BOS method is based on the ability of our body to influence the heartbeat by regulating breathing. In the process of training, we offer the user to relieve tension, synchronizing his breath with the schedule of training in real time. The feedback parameter is the depth of breath parameter, which we calculate in real time by the pulse.

Here are screenshots in BOS mode:

Can't relax?

Probably, when you try BOS for the first time, nothing will come of it, and the depth of breathing will be low, and you will be overstrained. This is quite normal, because the transition from shallow breathing to diaphragm breathing is always accompanied by an increase in pressure, stress, and a sense of lack of air for breathing. In the BFR settings it is possible to choose the required depth of breathing and the inlet-expiration ratio for you. All this is purely individual. Need to try in different versions.

Analogs, what's the difference?

In the latest version of iOS, Apple led the Mindfulness mode - the user is offered some time to breathe under the animation and relieve stress, but there is no feedback. In the Apple Watch, in the Breathe app, for a minute relaxation session, the result is a pulse that should be smaller than usual. The process of breathing itself is not controlled at all.

In general, when developing design and user scenarios, we focused on our own understanding of how the stress measurement program should work and, of course, studied the experience of several top programs:



First, we tried to simplify the interface, remove the extra “beautiful” and bring it into line with the style of Apple. We also separated the measurements from the BFB modes, since these are different scenarios.

Secondly, for the convenience of the user, we have added trends in the form of graphs, and the graph values ​​can be sorted by labels, for example, only by morning measurements, and watch how your indicators change during the week or month.

Thirdly, we added motivators-rewards. These are virtual rewards for program progress and measurement scores. The chip peeped from Apple Watch and in some other programs. The design of the awards is completely original, as are the conditions of their issuance. Total implemented about 80 options.

Here are examples of screenshots with awards.


And also, as in most applications, sharing results are available.

To health!

Now we are promoting the application and offer you to support it. Any criticism is very important to us, because This is the first experience, and we will probably go over all the rakes along the way.

Until! All good health!

And once again we invite you to download our application StressCam .