A lot of sweat and almost tears: this is how Oppo calibrates health and sports information on its watches

TechTrick December 6, 2023

46 2 minutes read

I must admit that I have a weak point in the world of technology and that is smartwatches. I want to try them all and I want to keep them all, but I know that is impossible. I think that a watch that is capable of getting so much information about my daily life with just a few sensors is, to say the least, revolutionary.

I have been able to visit one of the laboratories that Oppo has in Shenzhen dedicated exclusively to sport. Is called Oppo Health Lab and it is where Oppo engineers meet with athletes of all types and levels, as well as employees to create the measurements that will end up laying the foundations for the algorithms that the watches use to indicate our physical state.

Oppo Health Lab It looks more like a gym than a laboratory. A large room full of training machines such as ellipticals, rowing machines, stationary bicycles or treadmills, among other sports equipment. In addition, they have several special measuring machines, such as a 3D body scanner and a machine that indicates, with great precision, your body composition.

Oppo Watch 4 Pro

This laboratory is used to make some of the essential measurements so that later Oppo watches, such as the Oppo Watch 4 Pro (which is not for sale in Spain) or the Oppo Band, can create an estimate of your calories burned when you you start exercising. From riding a bike, rowing, lifting weights or running.

At a technical level, each subject undergoes tests, such as body measurements and 3D measurements, and while performing a stress test, such as running, they measure even the oxygen they inhale. Other measurements such as pulse or blood oxygen variation are also taken. Thousands of tests are used to create algorithms that, based on your gender, age and weight, create an estimate of your daily activity.

A runner has sensors in her legs to measure her throw, position, cadence and much more information collected by cameras and sensors.

Another of the most curious tests is the one carried out on runners. With a series of sensors in the legs, they can measure the position when running in great detail. This helps create a system that detects the correct running form and balance of the person wearing an Oppo watch.

That is, by studying hundreds of people who run well, as well as those who run poorly, it can tell you what you are doing wrong when training to avoid discomfort or possible injuries.

This computer stores all the information it receives from the runner's sensors. — This computer stores all the information it receives from the runner’s sensors.

All these hours of training, sweat (and tears) are collected to train algorithms and models that will be used in the watches.

In this way, when you buy an Oppo smartwatch and put it on your wrist, that seemingly random information about calories burned or training metrics does not come out of nowhere, everything has a basis and is collected in this laboratory.

As a curiosity, Oppo is one of the few brands that manufactures sports smartwatches with special tennis and badminton measurements, something quite rare in this type of product.

Oppo, like other manufacturers, also collaborates in large studies of diseases, especially cardiovascular and sleep diseases. The company is currently collaborating with four hospitals spread across China using its watches worn by people with health problems, in search of large data banks for their research.