Capsense for DDR pad and latency

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello people.

I'm trying to develop a DDR like dance pad, I'm trying to keep mechanical part simple and cheap as possible, so thought about a solution without moving parts, so this solution appeared.

I never worked with capacitive sensors.
Do you think this is possible?
Which is the expected latency for this?

My plan is to cut aluminum foil (like roof gutter?) and place on a large wooden board (about 1x1m).
One know problem is about the grounding, If I put a wire under this wooden board can solve? Or a full aluminum? (if necessary).

Fo who dont know, DDR is a dancing game, generally a mat with arrows are used as controller, placed in the floor, the arrows appears in the screen syncronized with the music, you need to step on correct arrow and in the correct timing.
So, timing is important here.
Each arrow will be kind 30x30cm, I need 4 of them + 2 smaller ones (for start and back).

Thank you very much.

2

What capacitive sensors are you trying to use?
They are not easy things to use especially for what you want to do.

I would recommend you looked at pressure pads, the sort that are used in intruder alarm installations. They are cheap and reliable.

3

Hello Grumpy_Mike.

My plan is using that "thick" aluminium foil used for roof gutter.
There are other people doing this, take a look:

Looks promising, but I'm worried about the latency, also, those projects just accept 2 triggers at same time.

4

Anything with instructables in the URL should come with a health warning. It is not the best of sources.

but I'm worried about the latency

What latency can you tolerate.

those projects just accept 2 triggers at same time.

Yes that sort of thing is a problem with the very crude method of detection used. Note how everything is taped down so nothing moves.

I would recommend you get a proper cap sensing board then you can fine tune the trigger parameters.

5

Problem is not the latency itself as I can make the game deal with it, but the latency variation will be a problem.
I'm not sure the value.

Dont you think the 2 triggers problem is from some code limitation?
Current capsense can deal with several triggers at same time (I believe)

6

Dont you think the 2 triggers problem is from some code limitation?

No I think it is a hardware limitation, but look at the code and see for yourself. Not other people complain about it too.

but the latency variation will be a problem.
I'm not sure the value.

That doesn’t make sense. What makes you think there will be a significant variance In latency?

7

Just because I dont understand the capacitive sense deep working or its limitation, this is wahy I'm asking here.
Looks like it is better just to try it myself and check.