PostureBot: Straightening Out Bad Habits

Inspiration

We were tired of constantly dealing with neck and back pain from hours of slouching over our computers. After seeing our friends and classmates struggle with the same issues, we realized that traditional posture apps were either too annoying or ineffective. We wanted to create something that would actually help people build better habits without being intrusive.

What it does

PostureBot monitors your posture in real-time using your webcam and sends gentle, personalized reminders when you slouch or crane your neck forward. It learns your habits and adapts its notifications to be most effective for your routine, helping you build better posture habits over time without constant interruption.

How we built it

We used Python and OpenCV with MediaPipe for real-time pose detection. Our algorithm calculates key angle measurements:

$$\theta_{neck} = \arccos\left(\frac{\vec{shoulder} \cdot \vec{ear}}{|\vec{shoulder}||\vec{ear}|}\right)$$

We built the frontend as an Electron app for cross-platform compatibility, with a Python backend handling the computer vision. The ML model was trained using TensorFlow on a dataset of good and poor posture examples.

Challenges we ran into

False positives were our biggest hurdle - the early version would alert users every time they moved. We solved this with time-based thresholds and movement filters. Lighting variations also caused detection failures, which we addressed with adaptive preprocessing. Finally, privacy concerns required us to ensure all processing happens locally on the user's device.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully created a non-intrusive posture monitoring system that actually works in real-world conditions. Our beta testing with 10+ users showed a 65% improvement in posture awareness

What we learned

This project taught us the complexity of human-computer interaction in health applications. We learned about computer vision, biomechanics, and most importantly, that effective behavior change requires understanding user psychology, not just good technology.

What's next for Posture Bot

We plan to add features like ergonomic workspace analysis, integration with standing desks, and collaborative challenges with friends. We're also exploring partnerships with physical therapy clinics to help patients with posture-related recovery programs.