A Physicist Rigged His Pet Hamster’s Wheel to Upload to Strava. It Runs Surprisingly Far Every Night
Summary
A physicist built a speed-and-distance tracker for a hamster’s wheel using an ESP32 with a magnet/hall sensor setup and uploads the data to Strava as a .FIT file. The system includes a live speed display and Strava integration, allowing Mollie to log nightly mileage (averaging around 10 km with a high of 10.8 km). The piece highlights maker culture and practical IoT hardware tinkering for hobby projects.