Hello everyone. I am by no means an electronics person so I apologize in advance for not knowing the proper way to explain what I am trying to do. I need some help with a project. I need a hit sensor that lights up when hit by a 6mm Airsoft BB. Basically, we use cookie sheets as targets, and we want to be able to tell if a person hits the target. Ideally we would have a red light come on to show the target has been hit. It needs to be battery powered and able to be reset quickly by a button push or on/off switch. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Do you (anyone interested in the project, since you say “we”) have any background programming?
I would start by finding out how much force an airsoft BB creates on the target and if there is a sensor that would reliably detect it.
Something like these:
An operable sensor could be interfaced to an Arduino (or similar u-processor) which would turn on an LED. Note: this also could be done in hardware but probably has no advantage over a programmable device’s.
The LED could be reset from a wired button or remote control devices which would include BT, 433mhz, Optical etc. The choice would depend on the distance from the reset device to the target.
Power could be provided by a battery an advanced form of which could be solar.
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What Don mentioned is critical because typical sensing is done by a force measurement or mechanical device being triggered by a force(switch/button). By telling us you want to sense a 6mm AirSoft BB hitting a target we know the diameter and possible mass of the item to sense but not how much force it applies on the target. Is the target 1m away or is it 50m away?
If triggering a mechanical device won’t work, one question might be is there enough vibration in the target to be sensed? Either mechanical vibration or sonic vibration(sound).
As someone that use to be involved in the airsoft community, I can tell you that the BBs generally weigh between 0.12g and 0.35g with the most common being about 0.20-0.25g. The AEGs (automatic electric guns) have muzzle velocities between 200 - 550 ft/s (61 - 167 m/s) with around 350 ft/s (107 m/s) being common.
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F=ma and a=v/t then
F=m(v/t)
but since m=0.2g and a keyboard requires ~13N of force…
13/0.2=65,000 m/s^2
a=v/t or 1/a=t/v or v/a=t and 107/65000=0.002s
ya, I kinda suck at this but I think this could mean there just isn’t enough mass in a 0.2g BB to trigger a switch from an AirSoft gun. But might be enough to deform a ceramic disc and catch the pulse to trigger the LED. But the right sheet of metal might make a ping loud enough to pick up with a microphone and trigger a pulse which triggers the LED.
I have used the piezo flex sensors in other projects and it takes very little force or vibration to get a usable signal. It would also be less prone to noise than audio sensing.
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how large of a target can they used on? The OP didn’t mention the diameter of the target area only mentioned use of a cookie sheet.
Basically I want to make and market something similar to this: attacksense.com
For the sake of brevity, I want to begin manufacturing and selling a system simlar to this that is catered to a Military and Law Enforcement audience. If anyone has any ideas, I am willing to compensate you for your time and effort. I’m open to bringing on partners as well.
Are you asking for someone to build this for you?
The system you included is quite a bit more complex than the description you opened with.
What is it about what you want to be built that would be significantly better than attacksense?
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