Designing Smart Boxing Gloves for Measuring Punch Force during Training Process

Oral Presentation
Paper ID : 1562-SSRC
Authors
1دانشگاه صنعتی اصفهان- دانشکده مهندسی نساجی
2دانشگاه صنعتی اصفهان
3عضو هیئت علمی دانشگاه صنعتی اصفهان- دانشکده مهندسی نساجی
4استادیار مرکز تربیت بدنی دانشگاه صنعتی اصفهان
Abstract
The use of scientific principles in professional sports has become increasingly popular in recent years. As a result, researchers and trainers have focused on the training plans and science of professional athletes, as well as the analysis of their performance in various aspects. The analyzing team attempts to assess the performance of athletes during the training process in different fields. In recent years, the use of smart textiles in various sciences, including medicine and sports, has received much attention. Different kinds of sensors and electrodes, such as strain and pressure sensors and ECG and EMG electrodes, are designed using different textiles, allowing for the flexibility and comfort of the designated structure to be achieved. This study proposes a new method for designing smart boxing gloves to measure the force of punches during the training process. Textile-based pressure sensors based on capacitor principles were designed. The structure of the sensors consists of two conductive fabrics as electrodes and one spacer fabric as a dielectric material. The dimensions of the pressure sensor were 3*3*0.5 and 2*2*0.5 cm. Two steps were defined in this research to evaluate the performance of textile-based pressure sensors. In the first step, the proposed sensors were tested in the laboratory during fast impact force by using a dropped bowl from different heights. The variation of capacity was recorded by using an electronic circuit board during laboratory testing. In the next step, the pressure sensors were assembled on the front of boxing gloves, and the performance of them during the training process was evaluated. The speed and force of punches on the boxing bag were varied, and the sensitivity of designated sensors was evaluated. Our findings revealed that the proposed sensors can measure the punch force successfully with acceptable accuracy. The dimension and kind of dielectric material were found to be effective parameters on the performance of sensors. It is concluded that the boxing gloves equipped with textile-based pressure sensors can be used to evaluate the performance of athletes during long time training.
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