Hind Hobeika’s ButterflEye: First heart rate monitor built specifically for swimmers

Sports and technological advancement have long gone hand in hand. Starting with retractable roofed stadiums, 'natural' artificial grass turfs to recycled plastic jerseys, all of them address that collective magnitude of issues either for enhancing the presentation of the game or for better playing conditions for the participants. But what about some personalized form of simplistic technology that intrinsically deals with an athlete's performance? The developments so far in this singular field have been scarce and among them is the ingenious yet simple invention of ButterflEye by one Hind Hobeika from Beirut.

Hind Hobeika’s ButterflEye

Basically a pair of swimming goggles, ButterflEye has the ability to directly keep track of a person's heart beat, even when he/she is in the middle of any swimming exercise. The goggles incorporate an inconspicuous yellow wire, which is stretched across the top section of the lenses to connect to dual heart trackers that would be fixed to the user's temples. There will an integrated light-sensor system which would indicate to the swimmers the state of their heart beat by direct monitoring of the body. For example, when the light is yellow - the swimmer needs to increase speed, when the light is green - the swimmer has optimum speed, and when the light is red - the swimmer needs to decrease speed (and exertion).

As a matter of fact, this setup in itself has a big practical advantage over other comparable contraptions such as the wrist worn heart rate monitor, which could prove to be difficult to check during swimming maneuvers such as front crawl, or a butterfly. The project is already supported by Berytech Fund ($100,000 in seeds capital) as the inventor herself (also a swimming enthusiast) expects each ButterflEye piece to cost around $100. Moreover, she is all set to develop a more advanced version of her invention and expects its benefits to reach the shores of North America.

Via: DailyStar