Raspberry Pi DIY: Heart Rate Sensor

Have you ever used those Nike shoes that tell you your jogging speed and heart rate and stuff like that? Are you the kind who uses apps on their ipods to keep track of their fitness? If so, no need to spend anymore money on gadgets that sense your heart rate anytime, anywhere. All you have to do is build yourself this Raspberry Pi based Heart Rate Sensor.

Since the electronic components in the circuitry are many, you may want to go for Adafruit’s Heart Rate Starter Pack, like the maker did. The pack comes with a wireless sensor from Polar. Get the pack and set up a system that blinked a red LED, huge enough when compared to the other components so that it is sightable, synced in time with your heartbeat while streaming that beat for visualization of beats over time. Alternatively, you can buy the components off the shelf. You will need 1 Polar T34 Heart Rate Transmitter and Receiver, a HDMI cable and monitor, a Bluetooth Keyboard or Mouse, a WiFi dongle, a 40-pin GPIO Ribbon Cable and a 40-pin GPIO to Breadboard Interface Board (unless you go for jumper cables), 4 Breadboard Tie Lines, 1 10mm Red LED, 1 1k Ohm Resistor and a Breakout Pin Header with at least 3 pins.

That’s it. Once you have got the components all you need to do is write a short Python script to sync LED blinks with your heartbeat. Then use the Initial State to direct your heart rate and show the beats per minute. You are ready to use it.