IoT sensor brings gym equipment status to users

Is a piece of gym equipment available or in use? In a pilot, a single ceiling-mounted sensor monitored three exercise machines. A Grafana dashboard displays the status of each machine and its usage history.

https://youtube.com/shorts/5cmAsfNLmYQ

The Milesight VS121 sensor used in the pilot employs AI-based image recognition. A separate detection zone was defined around each exercise machine. When a person remains within a zone for at least five seconds, the machine is marked as occupied. Once their departure is confirmed, the status returns to available. The status therefore reflects detected presence within the zone.

Data travels through the LoRaWAN network and its network server to Azure IoT Hub. Azure Stream Analytics processes the events and stores them with timestamps in an Azure SQL database. Grafana presents the data in a dashboard for monitoring equipment status and reviewing usage history.

The collected data can support utilisation monitoring, maintenance planning and equipment purchasing decisions. The same approach could also be applied to monitoring the availability of meeting rooms and shared workspaces.

The accompanying video demonstrates the solution in practice: a user enters the room, checks equipment availability in Grafana and moves to the ski ergometer. The status in Grafana changes from Available to Occupied. The same process is then demonstrated with the treadmill.