Teach Your Fitness Band to Track Biceps Curls and More

By: Rachel Metz

Narrated by: Todd Mundt

According to Adam Tilton, when you get down to it, there really isn't that much of a difference between estimating the path and speed of a missile and figuring out what kind of exercise you're doing at the gym: it's all about using a sensor to measure a signal, and extracting that signal from the surrounding noise. Tilton should have a pretty good idea of what he's talking about. As a graduate student at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, he studied signal processing and estimation control—typically applied to things like guiding missiles. But a few years ago, after realizing the technology could also be useful for the fast-growing market for wearable gadgets like fitness-tracking wristbands and smart watches, he decided to change course.©Massachusetts Institute of Technology (P)Massachusetts Institute of Technology