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Athletes in the sport of curling, "curlers", use stopwatches to help judge the speed of a stone as it slides down the ice. The timing also gives curlers information about the "speed" of the ice, that is, the amount of friction present between the stone and the ice. There are two challenges that curlers face with most traditional stopwatches:
1. You start and stop a running timer, but you have to intentionally reset it before you time the next interval. In curling, you never need to start a timer after stopping it, so with Hog Splitter Pro, there is no concept of a reset. Each time you split, you get the amount of time elapsed between the last 2 button presses. This means that the curler will never miss a time due to the stopwatch being in an improper state.
2. Because of the start-stop nature of traditional stopwatches, it is impossible to measure 2 intervals as the stone crosses 3 lines. Imagine the stone crosses 3 lines in the ice; we will call them A, B, and C. The stone is free-sliding through these three lines - it does not stop. You want to measure the interval of time it takes the stone to go from line A to B, then from B to C. With a traditional stopwatch, this is not possible - I can start the timer at A then stop at B, but then how will I get the B-C time?
Some stopwatches on the market have features that solve one of the above challenges or the other, but I have not found one that cleanly solves both, so I decided to build Hog Splitter Pro.
Hog Splitter Pro also provides a large, high-contrast screen that is readable from any angle, a customizable beep (some players like to turn it off completely), and configurable text size. Hog Splitter Pro also features a glanceable history - see up to 18 previous intervals without scrolling.
In Progress FeaturesLastly, we are developing two features to allow Hog Splitter Pro to 1) communicate with other units so times can be shared wirelessly between devices, and 2) communicate with a product called Chronocurl, an automatic splitter that uses laser towers on the ice. This is great for team practice so that the whole team gets perfect interval times.
ImplementationHog Splitter Pro is simple: inside is an M5Stack CoreInk control unit. It features an ESP32 microcontroller, a few buttons, a rechargeable battery, and an e-ink display. Using the Arduino IDE packages published by M5Stack, I programmed the device to implement my stopwatch. The light sleep features of the ESP32 allow the battery to last for days (unless using one of the wireless connected modes - those eat battery much faster), and because e-ink retains its image without power, the screen is always "on".
The CoreInk module is enclosed in a custom-designed 3D-printed housing to match the traditional ergonomics of a stopwatch. The two top buttons both actuate a plunger to the same button the CoreInk using a clever lever system. A note: the housing was designed and printed by a friend, and as such I do not have the ability to post the CAD files to this project.
Why Hog Splitter Pro is SpecialCurling is a niche sport, but that doesn't mean its athletes aren't passionate. We care deeply about playing the sport to its highest potential. While this is a small improvement to an ancillary piece of equipment, it has been met with great enthusiasm by players at all levels of the sport: Olympic gold medalists to my good friends in the beer league.
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