Using Arduino With Flexiforce Force Sensors

Forum 2005-2010 (read only) General Frequently-Asked Questions
#1

I am looking to measure force using the Flexiforce A201 force sensors and I have bought an Arduino Duemilanove board.

I am new to Arduino so my understanding of the language etc is very limited. Ideally I am looking to strike the sensor. I was thinking that the onboard A/D Converter would convert the analogue sensor signal into digital format.

I was hoping that the board would then be able to store the data. And then I would like to be able to connect the board to a computer via USB and transfer the data from the board to the computer.

However, I was concerned abut the amount of data that the board would be able to store. It says on the data sheet that it only has 1kb ram. I will need a relatively high sampling rate to ensure accurate data which requires more memory as far as I am aware.

I was also wondering what would be required on the PC in order to read the data which is transferred from the board?

Would anyone be able to help me out with the language? I have tried googling similar applications to see if there is any code I could use but I can’t really find anything…and in all honesty I am not really sure what I am looking for.

#2

For information about the sensor see here:-
http://www.arduino.cc/playground/Main/InterfacingWithHardware

It says on the data sheet that it only has 1kb

True and not all of that is available to store data in about 800Bytes or so.
You could try adding a memory card, see Spark Fun

what would be required on the PC in order to read the data which is transferred from the board

Best bet is to use a language called Processing, it’s a free download and very much like the Arduino’s environment.

And then I would like to be able to connect the board to a computer via USB and transfer the data from the board to the computer.

Unless you modify the Arduino it resets when whenever a USB lead is connected to it, thats why your are better off using flash memory storage. However flash memory is only goo for about 100,000 writes.

#3