GOQii activity tracker band Archives

April 17, 2017 By GOQii Editor Leave a Comment

GOQii Sanjeevani : Our Village Experience

It was a big day for all of us at GOQii as the company was kick-starting its new project GOQiiSanjeevani in the village of Waghadi in Palghar district on April 7^th-World Health day. 10 of us expert coaches along with our two in-house doctors and 5 tech team personnel and other senior members from GOQii including our CEO Vishal Gondal travelled on the morning of April 7^th to Waghadi for the launch. We were going there with a purpose to consult the villagers and guide and educate them on their health issues.

For the last 3 years that most of us have been here at GOQii, we have been dealing with urbanites who have a hectic, stressful and majorly sedentary lifestyle. GOQiiSanjeevani gave us a fresh new opportunity to Coach the villagers who have totally different concerns when it comes to health.

50 villagers with smartphones were shortlisted. They were given the band and also asked to install the app in their phones. Once that was done they were sent to the expert coaches for an interaction. Initially, the villagers were a little apprehensive to share information but when we explained to them how the band, the app along with the coaching is going to help and prevent them from falling ill they got interested.

We found that the villagers are active in their own ways as they walk quite a distance due to lack of frequent public transportation.Women here take care of farming while men are involved in different occupations like teaching, driving etc. However, on talking to them we realized that they do not have major health issues as of now but are almost on the brink of developing disorders like diabetes, thyroid, acidity, UTI due to poor diet habits and hygiene etc. It was hard to believe that many are indulging in regularly eating processed food and junk foods like Chinese, VadaPav (Indianised burger), Samosa etc.

Issues Seen in them:

Acidity due to skipping Breakfast and large meal gaps through the day
Lack of Fibre in terms of Veggies & Fruits in regular daily diet
Joint Pain and Anemia in Women
Sleep Issues

As for now, GOQii Expert Coaches have majorly started working on

Regular meals
Inclusion of fruits and vegetables in their daily food
Have Breakfast
Add Iron & Calcium food sources for women

Once we finished interacting with the 50 villagers there was a bit of an apprehension from our side. Most of us were not sure if the villagers would keep in touch and interact with us

But, we are pleasantly surprised with theresponse we are getting from the villagers. On a dailybasis, they are informing us how much they are eating and what they are eating, if they’re sleeping well etc.They are following our instructions and that is overwhelming for us.

Our overall experience was enriching. It was a new learning on how to communicate with the villagers.

February 15, 2017 By Champ Alreja 3 Comments

How accurate is the GOQii band

In the last one-year fitness trackers or wearable as they are called have grown in popularity. But, yet there is a lot of confusion around how accurate are these trackers when it comes to counting steps. One is not sure if they can trust the numbers that are captured by the tracker.

Today, almost every second person is wearing a fitness tracker to monitor his or her health and fitness levels on a day-to-day basis. I am constantly flooded with questions of how accurate is the band when it comes to monitoring the level of physical activity during a 30-minute workout session or while running or trekking in the outdoors?

These questions have prompted me to write this blog on how the steps are counted and how accurate is the band.

Let me begin with the first question

1) Why does my band count steps when I ride my bike or when I sit in an auto?

A fitness band is a sophisticated and modern version of an analogue pedometer. In a digital form using complex algorithms and an accelerometer (an instrument for measuring the acceleration of a moving or vibrating body). Fitness bands such as the GOQii, are designed to measure 3 axis movements of your body by being worn on your wrist.

The band counts steps on the principle of movements in a certain direction and velocity which are programmed using Japanese algorithms. Hence, movements in a certain pattern and pace are tracked as steps.

The band uses predictive equations using your body’s acceleration in different directions to estimate energy expenditure.

Let me explain how it works…

Velocity and Direction

If you are walking too slow or running too fast it will not pick it up. On an average, you need to walk -200 steps per minute.

According to University of Nebraska researchers who examined various fitness monitors (Jawbone, Fitbit, Nike Fuel Band, and Actigraph), accelerometer-based monitors can overestimate or underestimate energy expenditure by 10-15 percent, depending on the monitor.

2. Talking to our players and users of other fitness bands, they often tell me that while jogging, running or playing a sport, the tracker doesn’t show the exact distance.

How does the device measure distance? I am often told by players that they have gone for a jog and taken 10 rounds of a jogging track that measures 400 mts in length but, the GOQii band has clocked only 3.5 km instead of 4 km. How is that possible?

The device measures motion. Distance is an algorithmic calculation based on estimations of your average stride length x the number of steps taken. A person who is 5’6” tall has an average stride length of 0.7 meters. Hence, 100 steps taken will show as 70 meters. When you run, your stride length increases above average and when you jog, it falls below average.

GOQii’s main service offering being lifestyle change calculates distance based on your day and not on particular activities. So, during certain activities you may lose or gain steps, however, the average for the day is well indicated.

Stride Length Pics velocity 50 steps/ minute-160 steps/per minute

3. I have been walking a lot but, my band only shows minimalistic steps.

Running on a treadmill, cycling, swimming and playing certain sports may not accurately display your steps taken. Such as, while cycling, your hands stationery and placed on the handlebars, the tracker being designed to detect motion will pick up steps from your stationery hands. Similarly, you may experience the same while pushing a stroller or a bag. In many cases, you can put the core unit in your pocket (instead of your wrist) to record motion, especially, when your hands are still.

Hand swing motion

Images Courtesy of The Progress Group, Analog Dialogue.

Here’s a short video of GOQii being put on an apparatus in a testing lab to test accuracy

January 3, 2017 By Ruta Satam 1 Comment

2016 Report Card: Karma activities at GOQii

GOQii has been working with Non-profit organizations as its Karma partners in promoting and spreading awareness for different causes. Karma activities are also based on the premise that doing Karma keeps you healthy. Just to reiterate inspired by Mahatma Gandhi’s journey of 390 KM, for every 390 steps tracked through your GOQii activity tracker band, you earn one Karma point. These points are then converted into monetary donations that is donated to charity sponsored by our Karma partner.

It’s been two successful years now and we have charities listed on the GOQii app that are successfully funded by the Donor partners.

Here are two recent causes that we have contributed to.

Millions of children in India go to bed hungry because their parents/guardians are not able to purchase food for them. Most of them drop out from schools so that they can help their parents and supplement the family income.

Ratna Nidhi Charitable Trust’s-Food for Education Program distributes free food prepared at our kitchens on a daily basis, to poor children if they attend any formal or non-formal educational class. It thus combines food with education-we now have a child who is educated and well fed also. The programme has been very effective in arresting the drop-out rate in schools.

Ratna Nidhi’s food has been treated by the beneficiaries as “Homely Balanced and Tasty”. Not for profit, the food has a flavour of compassion, and tender loving care.

As of today, the organisation feeds more than 4500 Children daily through its approximately 50 centres all over Mumbai including the suburbs. The Mid Day Meal is cooked at the Food Center by the special team of cooks under Ratna Nidhi’s representatives’ direct supervision.

The food partners are identified carefully and after the detailed need evaluation. These are generally Non-aided vernacular schools who do not qualify for the Govt. Mid-Day-Meal, Pre-schools in Urban Areas, Night schools who do not receive any of the welfare benefits and Street Children NGO’s who provide shelter.

The meals are packed for various partner schools and Balwadis. A special delivery system ensures that the food reaches the children by lunch time on a daily basis.

A simple meal for children each day that improves nourishment, increase weight, boosted attentiveness in class and ensures a healthy educated future.

Empowering Women against Violence:-

Moving from children let us now talk of women empowerment. After children, it’s the women who get abused the most and hence empowering women against violence is paramount.

How often have you come across a story in the newspapers or television about violence against women? Every day is the answer. Violence against women and girls is a bitter reality in India. As many as one-third of women and girls in the age group 15-49 have experienced physical violence, about one in 10 have experienced some form of sexual violence [Source: National Family Health Survey Round III (2005-2006)].

Yet, violence against women and girls, particularly domestic violence, is unavoidable. Many of us think and justify that violence by intimate partners is normal, and therefore acceptable. We need to change this very thinking that normalises violence against women and girls. We all have a role in preventing such violence.

The story of a 9 year old girl Mynah, who was married to a 20-year-old man, is an example to stand up against violence. Her husband repeatedly subjected her to intimate partner violence. After hearing of her experience, counsellors of Oxfam India advised Mynah to file a case under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005. Mynah took the brave decision to take control of her life. She continued with her studies, with the court’s intervention, she has got compensation. She has also remarried according to her own wish.

Oxfam India programmes are currently active in the six focus states of Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.

Oxfam India has been working to reduce the acceptance of violence against women and girls. They have reached out to more than 42,000 women to end violence in their lives and established 23 support centres within formal and informal locations to provide psycho-social counselling and legal aid to women facing this issue in their lives.

Together, we need to make sure that perceptions, attitudes and behaviours towards women and girls change so that gender-based discrimination comes to an end. With your help, this is what Oxfam India hopes to achieve in the future through supporting women like Mynah.

What has GOQii been doing in the Karma space in the last two years?

Here are some of the activities that we have conducted for players as well as our employees in the last two years…..

One of the biggest on ground Karma event that we are a part of is the 100 KM Oxfam Trailwalk where GOQii players and employees participate and walk 100 km to raise awareness and support a cause.

Part from this we have had regular activities in GOQii office. This year we had a session with Greensole, a social venture that collects discarded shoes, refurbishes them and makes comfortable footwear for the underprivileged.

We also did something interesting this Christmas. While last year we went to a home that housed children with Cancer and spent few hours with the kids by playing and dancing with them, this year we celebrated Christmas in the most unique way. GOQii employees played secret santa to orphaned children of an orphanage in Chembur and also employees pledged for various basic commodities like Rice, dal, wheat, Oil etc and donated to the orphanage.