The Fitness Room
It’s a Monday morning and the date is May 19, 2053. Alex Wisher is just waking up and he is beginning his morning routine before he heads to his office to work in VR for the day. Alex always gives his virtual assistant, Sky, a list of tasks the night prior to do and have prepared for when he wakes up in the morning. These tasks include anything from having his breakfast prepared, making his bed once he’s awake, and making sure his pets are fed. Alex is 26 years old and lives alone but has a nice single home. Technology and fitness has always been a big part of his life, so his smart home is as technologically advanced as possible to fit his personal needs. Alex loves to workout before having to work for 6–8 hours of the day.
In Alex’s smart home, Sky can perform any task for him at any given time simply by saying “Hey Sky”. For example, if Alex needs the trash changed and taken out he says “Hey Sky, please take out the trash from my kitchen and put a fresh trash bag in please”. Sky is intelligent enough and knows when asked about specific parts of the house and what task is being asked of her. Along with having such a technically advanced home, Alex has always had a spare room in the home that wasn’t being used for much except storage at the time. Fitness has always been a huge aspect of Alex’s life and he has finally decided to transform this storage room into the ultimate fitness room with the latest and greatest technology available.
This fitness room would turn out to be so advanced with the endless possibilities it had to offer. The first step in transitioning the room was to move all of the storage that was being kept in there to the attic. After everything was moved out and the room was cleared of all the storage, Alex wanted to replace the floor first. The new floor that was installed was made of a microfiber material which allowed it to be flexible and allowed it to transform for more use and possibilities. The next step for the fitness room was to install a 12k seamless display that wrapped around the entire room, including the ceiling, to give Alex the best visual experience possible. After the display was installed, there were then cameras, microphones, and speakers implemented to allow Alex to connect and talk to other people while in this advanced room. The cameras were 360 degrees and featured tracing capabilities which allowed them to pick up every movement and detect which activity Alex was doing. The microphones were used to pick up Alex’s voice when communicating with other users and more importantly when asking Sky to complete a task for him.
The next step for Alex was to start putting equipment into the room. The interesting factor is that the equipment isn’t ordinary training equipment. The equipment for the room works and coexists with Sky, the virtual assistant. Alex decided to choose equipment that included dumbbells, resistance bands, a bench, medicine balls, and more. All of the equipment mentioned and many more can be adjusted by the virtual assistant, Sky. The fitness rooms' technology removes the need for multiple dumbbells and different weight sets, only one of each piece of equipment is needed since Sky can adjust and set any piece of equipment to the requested weight of Alex. For example if Alex is working out his biceps and back and he’s doing a set of curls, he would simply pick a curl bar or dumbbells then ask Sky “Hey Sky, set dumbbells to 40 lbs”, then as he goes to pick up the dumbbells, their weight would be 40 pounds. This type of request works for all of the equipment within the fitness room.
It doesn’t stop there, we can’t forget about the display, cameras, and microphones that Alex had installed into the fitness room. All of these features along with the transformable microfiber floor allow Alex to ask Sky to change the scenery/ setting of the room without having to wear anything like a headset. It also allows him to connect and communicate with other users while being in this room, depending on the scenery he requests to set it to. Alex has the capability to set this room to fit his needs, he has all of the equipment he could ask for along with the help of Sky. If he is in the mood to set the room to the ordinary gym scenery, all he has to do is say “Hey Sky, please set the fitness room to gym scenery”. Sky can also provide Alex with different options of different gym sceneries if he isn’t pleased with the preset one Sky chooses for him. While in the gym scenery for example, Alex can choose to walk in place as the microfiber floor acts as a treadmill and this will allow him to walk around and meet new people in the gym scenery. The users will have the option to share their cameras so they can also get a visual of one another to make it feel as realistic as possible. Users can also simply communicate with one another by talking in the room, the various microphones pick up the users voice from any angle in the room with the feedback of the surround sound speakers. If Alex is in the mood to do other activities such as off road biking, the room is capable of transforming so he can do this. All Alex would have to do is ask Sky and she will change the settings of the room for him. Alex would then choose from the different sceneries like he did for the gym and then begin to bike. The microfiber floor will then give Alex the feeling as if he is going up and down hills along with the rugged feeling as the floor transforms and adjusts as he is biking.
Just like off road biking, Alex could also participate in an event/ activity like a marathon with users from all around the globe. During the marathon, Alex is able to talk to different users, meet new people and even possibly build friendships to participate in events like this with them in the future. The possibilities to this room are truly endless and help fit the needs of Alex. With all of the features within the room, they all work together to bring Alex such an experience like off road biking and participating in a marathon.
These are just some of the many capabilities of the room and the best part about it is that Alex can experience all of this in the comfort of his own home. He is able to access it at any time of the day and at his own convenience. Whether it’s before work or after work or even on a day off, Alex is given the experience of the fitness room whenever he wants and it only takes up one room in his smart home.
