Post date: Aug 22, 2010 1:2:12 AM
Today I went to home depot and picked up 2 boxes of 1' x 1' tile, with the intent of using 2 for each side of what would be 36 (6 x 6) digital pressure sensors. These would transmit data to Arduino and subsequently to Processing to be used to approximate the location and orientation of the person's footstep to display on the screen. I tried out a few different methods for the sensors to figure out which one worked best - this turned out to be double stacking 1.5 sq in pieces of foam in each corner, with aluminum foil taped to the center of each tile (as shown in the picture below), so that when the 2 pieces are pressed together (ie someone steps on it) the two foil pieces make metal contact, acting as a push button. I've got six done so far; they're not the most fun to make but they work surprisingly well, so it'll be worth it when it's done.