Trac Rope: Engineering a Smart Jump Rope With a Touchscreen in the Handle

The problem

Runners have treadmills and cyclists have smart bikes, all with screens showing time, speed, distance and heart rate. Jump ropes have nothing. Jumping rope is one of the most effective cardio workouts there is, but without data most people lose track of their effort and lose motivation.

Elio saw this from both sides. As a trainer, he works with clients every day. At Cenegenics Medical Institute he learned how much results depend on training in the right heart rate range: the clients who trained in specific heart rate zones got results fast, while those doing steady-state cardio often struggled. So he wanted a jump rope that showed your heart rate and performance in real time.

The idea

A jump rope with a handle that works like a fitness tracker:

• A heart rate sensor that reads your pulse while you jump
• An HD touchscreen on the handle showing time, speed (revolutions per minute), total revolutions, calories burned and heart rate (BPM)
• Training modes built in: Heart Health, Quick Start, Fat Burn and Performance
• Vibration alerts in your hand when a workout is done
• Interchangeable ropes for different goals: a heavy rope for strength, a speed rope for agility and coordination, and options for taller and shorter users

What One Stop Inventing did

A jump rope sounds simple. A jump rope with a heart rate monitor, a touchscreen, a rechargeable battery and Bluetooth inside a handle you swing hundreds of times a minute is a real electronics engineering challenge. Our team took Trac Rope from an earlier version with an analog screen to a touchscreen design:

• Touchscreen display. We replaced the analog screen with an HD touchscreen on the handle.
• Heart rate sensor, redesigned. The sensor moved from the palm to under the thumb. In Elio's words, it's "very comfortable for the thumb as opposed to at the palm, which is much less accurate."
• Electronics in a handle. Circuit board, sensor, display, battery and charging all had to fit in a grip that stays comfortable and survives constant impact and sweat.
• Battery and charging. A rechargeable battery with USB-C charging: about 2 hours to charge for up to 36 hours of use, according to the product specs.
• Mechanical design. Ropes made of PVC-covered metal wire, attached to the handle with a metal latching mechanism and spinning on a ball bearing so ropes can be swapped.

In short, we engineered the three parts that make Trac Rope work, the electronics, the case and the mechanics, and built the prototypes.

The result

The inventor's own verdict, on camera:

> "I got in touch with One Stop Inventing and it's been a great experience. With One Stop, we actually hit all our targets and were able to come up with a really nice looking prototype. As you can see, the difference between the two is huge: one's a touchscreen, one's an analog screen."
> Elio Constanza, founder of Trac Rope

Trac Rope also ran a pre-launch campaign on Prelaunch.com to build a community of early supporters before going to market.

Trac Rope specs

What other inventors can learn from Trac Rope

1. Build from what you know. Elio's idea came from two decades of training people and seeing what actually gets results.
2. Invest in yourself first. "If you're not willing to put your own money and your own time into the product or idea you have, you can't expect somebody else to," Elio says. Showing you're serious is what attracts partners and investors.
3. Iterate. The first version had an analog screen and a palm sensor. The second has a touchscreen and a thumb sensor. Every round makes the product better.
4. Just start. "We all have ideas, but only the ones that actually take the steps to create that idea and bring it to life are the ones that are going to have the opportunity to be successful."

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