Was doing some googling, but wasn't finding quite what I needed. Was hoping somebody could help me out with my idea (in terms of figuring out the sensor(s) I'd need)?
I'm interested in is being able to take a focus pad like one of the following:
http://www.dhresource.com/albu_255800797_00-1.0x0/sanda-martial-arts-muay-thai-boxing-gloves.jpg (hand shield)
or
http://i00.i.aliimg.com/img/pb/440/567/110/110567440_464.jpg (kicking shield)
and putting sensors on it that would allow me to do a couple of things:
- Gather data on the force of the strike.
- Gather data on the directionality of a strike (analogous to analyzing a golf swing or a tennis swing) but applied to the strikes used in martial arts.
- if possible the impact points on the pad
/shield
In this case I was thinking that the arduino would be a good component to handle gathering the raw data and then transmitting it some other remote system (such as a laptop or a cell phone)?
Obviously I'd need something that could take a LOT of abuse (as in hand strikes powerful enough to break cinder blocks, or k). Was looking at something like https://www.sparkfun.com/products/8685, but that doesn't seem quite like what I'd need?