A RFID-enabled gym management system

W.L.Wang1 * K.J.Lin2 C.T.Huang1 C.H.Chiu1

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Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taiwan, China (wlwang@ncut.edu.tw) 2 Office of Physical Education, National Chin-Yi University of Technology, Taiwan, China ABSTRACT

RFID innovative application dairy happened. In the study, we propose a RFID-enabled gym management system. By the system, the manager of gym can track and trace the exercise status of member. For the purpose of gym, it can apply an exercise prescription for each member when they come in fitness. The system not only can reduce the waste of human resources and enhance the efficiency of management levels, but also to enhance the welfare of members of gym. Keywords: Gym, Exercise prescription, RFID 1. INTRODUCTION Owing to the rapid development of city, busier modern life and lived in urban area without space to exercise, the gymnasium lead to exercise development [1]. When people go to the gym, they dont know training which part to choose the right equipment, where the fitness equipment, or should spend how much time to exercise this part when start fitness. With RFID technologys development, many innovative and sweet applications for our life, food, clothing, housing, transportation, education, and recreation are more convenient. The RFID system mainly contains three major parts tags, antenna, readers and the computer application system. This study proposes a RFID-enabled gym management system, through this system when member enter the gym, it will according to personal situation give exclusive exercise prescription. According to exercise prescription recommendation, members do relative fitness. In whole process of exercise, the RFID tag on the members wrist automatically collect and record the related fitness data of membership. When the member leaves, according to the content of exercise prescription and actual exercise to inform member whether reaches the recommendation of exercise prescription to meet the purpose of fitness; furthermore, can know the number of times of using equipment to control the equipment used times and as the maintenance basis for enhancing the management efficiency. 2. BACKGROUND 2.1 Gymnasium Taiwan has listed Sporting and Recreational Services as one of its four major industries in the Industry High-Value-added Project in 2004 [2]. In the study of Chi-Lun Chen [1], the study result of motivation, satisfacation, and population statistics of membership of gym as follows: 1. The motivation that member participates tends to health demand. The highest satisfaction of member usage is the satisfaction of serving attitude. An average that members purchase once more is 3.84. In the members usage satisfactions, convenience, hardware facilities, Software Program, and corporate image have predictive power for repurchase, it can explain repurchase dimensions 27.2 % variance.

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Conventional gymnasium more emphasize on the control and satisfy of memberhsip. In the conventional gym, before into gym verify informations and usage regulations spend more time of member, after counter attendant confirm finished can use every facility at random in the gym, but if member have question about fitness, it turns to fitness trainer gives the consultation and teaching. For above mentioned, the counter and fitness of traditional gym are separately managed. No integration gym management system can not satisfy the used satisfacation of members. 2.2 RFID RFID is abbreviation of Radio Frequency Identification. Stockman had proposed to make use of radio waves that carry identification information [3]. Since the first on the RFID patents was made after, RFID related applications has continued to facilitate conduct RFID system, be regarded as an important technology of this century, although RFID technology has existed for a long time, but until 2004 Wal-Mart began mandatory for its top 100 suppliers, all goods must come with RFID tags. The use of RFID tags, but also stimulate other industries also began to consider the feasibility of RFID and the application [4]. A basis RFID system consists of four components shown in Figure 1. 1. Tag: Formed by the coupling components and chips, the tag contains the built-in antennas and

978-1-4244-6487-6/10/$26.00 2010 IEEE

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communicates with RF antenna. Reader: The equipment of reading tag data (can also be written in the smart card readers). Antenna: Passing RF signals between tag and reader. Computer application system

in Figure 3.

Figure 1 RFID system diagram 3. COMPARISONS OF CONVENTIONAL GYM AND RFID GYM MANAGEMENT 3.1 Conventional gym management Member entry control in conventional gym is controlled by counter attendants. Member first shows the membership card to the attendant for computer checking the personal information and if the contract expired. For confirming correct, the membership card is kept by the attendant who will give the hand-ring safe key to the member and then member can start using the facility. A scene of conventional gym shown in Figure 2. Figure 3 The scenario of RFID gym management system At first, installing the reader detects the data of person (see Figure 4) and pass back to the database system to confirm the member information and movement information, then establish a website for customers to enquire and view how many people today in order to stagger the crowd. When member come to the gym and pass by the reader which installs on the door will read the information of member to control, member can use the body fat machine calculate their own body tissue structure let us give member exercise prescription (see Figure 5), and let member know where their body are inadequate and need to strengthen or provide information to member effectively use the necessary sports equipment.

Figure 2 The scene of conventional gym

In the weight training room usually have two staff for examining machine and providing service, in the security have training coaches to give guidance and protection. Figure 4 The scene of simulation diagram 3.2 RFID gym management The scenario of RFID gym management system shown

System architecture is shown as Figure 7:

Figure 5 Exercise prescription When member get the exercise prescription and start using fitness equipment that set up a passive reader on each fitness equipment to read the hand-ring tag on member, the reader will record the used equipment, frequency, and time each. Then return back to the database let system update the exercise prescription of member (see Figure 6), make member next time come to the gym can know what equipment last used, frequency, time, and where should be reinforced themselves. In addition to immediately updates exercise prescription of member, the reader set up on the equipment can calculate the used times of the equipment to control repair, maintenance or even replacement of equipment. Figure 7 System architecture 4.2 System function description System function description as below: 1. Login and maintain the member basic information. 2. The time that member come and go return back to the database for register and as the member movement control. 3. The time member used equipment or accumulates number return back to database for calculating the maintenance, repair, replacement management and so on. 4. According to exercise prescription of each member and the frequency and time member used equipment use database immediately update the prescription of member. 5. Member can use Tag data or basic information remote login system to enquire the used condition of equipment. 5. EXPECTED BENEFITS User is controlled by RFID not only can manage people according to the record but also can control the machine if reach the maintenance record, and according to need to exercise part of user for planning exercise prescription to find the best fitness effect. Figure 6 The exercise prescription after update 4. RFID GYM MANAGEMENT SYSTEM This study proposes the system architecture and system function description as follows. 4.1 System architecture 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Effectively control entry and exit of people Effective authentication of identity To reduce personnel costs Consumer record transparency To control the used frequency of machine to maintenance and repair According to the exercise record of member design the personal prescription

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To give members the most close service, and raises repurchase intention for increase gym business

prescription for each member when they come in fitness. The system not only can reduce the waste of human resources and enhance the efficiency of management levels, but also to enhance the welfare of members of gym. 7. REFERENCE 1. Chi-Lun Chen The study of Members' Participating Motivation, Customer Satisfaction and Repurchase Intention about Health and Fitness ClubA case study of GYMLUX FITNESS CLUB, Master dissertation, Fu Jen Catholic University, Hsinchuang City, 2007. Li-Yun Chao ,Taiwans Fitness Clubs: Current Status and Growth Trend, NPF Research Report, 2006. Stockman, H., "Communication by means of reflected power", Proceedings of the IRE, Vol. 36 No.10, 1948, pp.1196-204. C. Q. Song, Evaluation of Radio Frequency Identification at Distribution Center, Master dissertation, National Chiao Tung University, Hsinchu City, 2004. EPC global Taiwanhttp://www.epcglobal.org.tw RFID application officehttp://www.rfid.org.tw/ Yu-Yao Lee and Yi-Di Yu, RFID Identification card of the access control information systemSouth Taiwan's information technology and application conference 2007, pp.226-231.

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4. Figure 8 The benefits diagram of gym management system 6. CONCLUSION Recently RFID technology has been widely applied in many manufacturing or service sectors, such as optical communications, identify security, information technology, medical, management, transportation, education, logistics, etc. [5] [6]. Unmanned management become a key point of current management, RFID have been a great development in management application like elevator households control, personnel access control, and items anti-theft control etc. to reduce labor, make management almost unmanned, and RFID just provide the best way for unmanned management [7]. Owing to current society everyone busy work to neglect exercise insidiously, fewer and fewer people exercise in the stadium, but use gym instead. Because gym provide the equipment that people need, the right exercise, and convenience, make the demand of gym raise. But gym management need many staff to confirm the identity of member, control and help member how to correctly use exercise equipment. There are a lot of want to exercise but dont dare go to the gym, because the gym staff are to many, many people who do exercise dont like be restrained, so the idea of exercise is reduced, or want to gym but dont know how to correctly use the exercise equipment make the body more perfect, thus people dispel the idea that continue go to the gym. In the study, we propose a RFID-enabled gym management system. By the system, the manager of gym can track and trace the exercise status of member. For the purpose of gym, it can apply an exercise

5. 6. 7.