Physicist Connects His Hamster’s Exercise Wheel to Strava

Dutch MRI physicist Thijs de Buck rigged his hamster’s exercise wheel to capture speed and distance data and automatically upload the data to the fitness-tracking platform Strava. The hamster, named Mollie, is unknowingly logging nightly runs on a dedicated Strava account.

I built a speed/distance tracker for my hamster wheel, which automatically records the data and uploads it to our hamster’s own Strava account

De Buck also shared the technology behind this project.

The main parts are an ESP32 attached to a hall sensor, which I positioned close to the wheel. Using a magnet attached to the back of the wheel, this tells the ESP32 when a full rotation has completed. It gives a timestamp (and total distance) to each magnet-pass, which is stored on the network. A python script (on my laptop) then retrieves this data in the morning, turns it into a .FIT file, and uploads it to Strava through the Strava API.

In an interview with Runner’s World, de Buck explained that he was inspired to do this from his own experience as a runner.

De Buck is a runner himself, which helps explain why the project ended up with this level of data. He said he loves “tracking every possible stat” during marathon training, so wanting more information about Mollie’s nightly mileage felt natural.

via Runner’s World