Modifying smart watch or activity armband with further sensors

Question

I want something like an activity armband where I would like to add an bend sensor or EMG sensor for simple hand gesture recognition tasks. I could probably build it from scratch with arduino-like parts, but it will be much more bulky then the ones on the market and I would rather not reinvent those things that already do what I want. This is the type of device I am thinking about.

Is there an feasible task to try to modify an existing activity armband or smart watch by adding one of these sensors? If so, do you have any suggestions of what should be considered? Should I try something completely different? I am open to ideas. I have a background in Physics and Computer Science with an basic understanding of electronic devices but I am eager to learn.

Answer 1

there are a few DIY, open source armband or watch models like :

https://www.tindie.com/products/ttgo/t-wristband-diy-programmable-smart-bracelet/

which has the sources and tutorials on :

https://github.com/Xinyuan-LilyGO/LilyGO-T-Wristband

it's based on ESP32 and is Arduino ready.the space constraint may not allow for adding a new sensor, but it already comes with a few onboard sensors. after getting along with ESP32 and the TTGO libraries (which are all provided by the manufacturer LilyGo) that wouldn't be too hard to design a custom band.