PIKO Fitness Tracker
A tamagotchi-inspired wearable fitness buddy. A small companion pacing your day with you.
The idea
PIKO is a wrist-worn ESP32-powered fitness buddy with a face. A small companion pacing your day with you, rather than a step counter that reads like surveillance. Built as Chevo Collective for the Instructables Make It Wearable contest, where we picked up the Design & Make Judges' Award. I led the UI/UX and the creative side: the character, the animation frames, and the small on-device screen states.
The workshop
On 20 Aug we hosted a PIKO workshop for 10 groups of 2 UCT engineering students. We walked them through the hackathon process and then handed them a guided build so they could make their own PIKOs. It turned out really well. Seeing so many younger engineering students that excited about a project, and that keen to work together, was encouraging and motivating.
What's next
We're planning more workshops. Chevo Collective's whole thing is helping students feel how curiosity, teamwork, and effort turn into real projects, and how much value that can bring.
