App types for accelerometer data and bluetooth

Hi all,

I'm developing an app to control LED turn signals on Lumos helmets via BLE. I'd like to use accelerometer data to trigger a turn signal when the watch-wearer makes a corresponding hand gesture.

In my ideal user experience, the wearer would be able to start a cycling activity, and then immediately be able to control their helmet via the accelerometer. But it seems like that may not be achievable -- as far as I can tell, when an activity is started, there's no way to open another application at the same time. Judging by the "App Types" documentation, only Widgets, Apps, and Audio Content Providers have access to the Toybox.Sensor and Toybox.BluetoothLowEnergy APIs, so I couldn't, say, add a Data Field to the cycling activity as a hook to gather accelerometer data and control the helmet via BLE.

It seems like my best option is to create a standalone application and accept that wearers won't be able to record an activity at the same time, but I thought I'd ask here first.

0 jim_m_58 over 2 years ago

The logical type for this is a data field, and there BLE is not an issue.

The real issue is using Accel data to control it. Not just accessing Sensors, but would it work? This would only work for watches that are worn (vs using a bike mount), and then only if the arm where the watch is worn is used for the hand signal. Seems like you could also get a punch of false triggers with just normal arm movement Plus, it wouldn't work with non watches like an Edge device at all

0 jschear over 2 years ago in reply to jim_m_58

Thanks for the help. I definitely agree that getting the accelerometer approach to work reliably will be a challenge, and there will probably be some false positives (and maybe battery impact). Lumos provides an Apple Watch app that uses gestures that I’m trying to emulate; we’ll see how well it goes.

The alternative would be some form of button control, I guess. (Which would also rule out a Data Field I believe.)

0 jim_m_58 over 2 years ago in reply to jschear

Edge devices with touch allow input into DFs. Tap on the right side if turning right, on the left, for left