Presure t-shirt with leds

[paurosello]

Hi everyone. I have a project on mind but I really don't know where to start. I'll try to explain it....

I am a fencer and I want to make a game for the kids I train. The game is to try to touch the other and not to get touched. I tought about making some kind of t-shirt with five leds and a pressure sensor at the front. Each time you hit on the front one led would iluminate.

**broken link removed**
(here is a link to an image of my project)
https://img155.imageshack.us/i/capturadepantalla201103l.png

The red dots are the leds and the green zone is the presure sensor.

I have some AT90USB162 here and I read about conductive frabric(velostat and others). Nut I really don't know where to start.

If someone could give me a hand...

Thanks in advance

 

[Sceadwian]

You don't really want pressure sensing you want contact sensing. You could do that with conductive fabric, and using a low current AC source attached to the foil, so that when it contacted the fabric it would register as an AC current, voltage probably wouldn't even have to be that high.

 

[Boncuk]

How about using four or five tactile switches connected in parallel?

Making the touch area large enough there will always be one button be hit to trigger the counter circuit.

That method requires 3 to 5VDC only.

Boncuk

 

[Sceadwian]

For fencing Boncuk? Not gonna cut it, it will miss even major hits.

 

[4pyros]

Ues conductive fabric and capacitive sensing. Andy

 

[paurosello]

Thanks for your answers!!! I did'nt explain very well because I can't use electric weapons on this project.

We have some plastic weapons and this is why I thought about one of these things:

Conductive Fabric Pressure Sensor

Conductive Thread Pressure Sensor

Pressure Sensor Matrix

What do you think about them? do they need large batteries?

Thanks!

 

[Sceadwian]

In such an active environment capacitive sensing is probably not going to work, straight voltage detection is far simpler and more reliable.

Just found out how they do it professionally. Apparently there's a simple contact switch on the tip, seeing as how only tip contact counts in fencing. That'd be extremely easy to make, it'd be easier to put the LED's on the foil though.

 

[Boncuk]

For fencing Boncuk? Not gonna cut it, it will miss even major hits.

Depends much on the construction, doesn't it?

 

[Sceadwian]

The push switch on the tip is simpler by... more than just a little. That's probably why they do it that way in the first place.

 

[4pyros]

The push switch on the tip is simpler by... more than just a little. That's probably why they do it that way in the first place.

Yes it would count the number of hits but not that thay were in the right place. Andy

 

[paurosello]

Doe anyone know any idea with the links I posted before?

Thanks!