feelBoxing Project Concept

feelBoxing is a boxing training system designed in order to provide users the highest quality real-time feedback during an exercise session. This project recreates for the boxer the experience of a traditional boxing session by transforming the forces, impacts, and sensations generated by the boxer’s punch into vibration that the boxer feels. Boxers can benefit from feelBoxing as a tool to measure their performance while training. 

This system consists of a sensitive punching man (dummy) connected to a vest which the user wears. When the dummy is punched, the force of the punch is transmitted to the vest. The vest transforms force into vibration so users can feel the intensity of a punch’s impact without getting hurt. With this system, the boxing training experience will be very different from traditional ways of training as users will have direct feedback of their actions during the training session.

feelBoxing Experience

This experience offers several advantages:

- Specific location of the regulation zones on the body of the dummy.
- Different sensors distributed according to the regulation zones (piezo film for non-regulation zones and force sensing resistor for regulation zones). The reactions of vibrating motors change depending on the regulation zones and the energy bar level changes according to the regulation zones too.
- The vibrating motors are located in the vest according to the position of each one of the sensors.
- The reaction of the vibrating motors is synchronized exactly with the punches.

feelBoxing Development

feelBoxing is a project created in the workshop of Interactive Environments (Ambientes Interactivos) under the coordination of the professor Hernando Barragan, at Universidad de Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

feelBoxing was developed using five force sensing resistors and three piezo films connected to wiring as analog inputs in order to get the entering values. For creating the feelBoxing response to users, it was used six vibrating motors connected to wiring as analog outputs for transmitting the impact force to the vests and two red leds line connected to wiring as digital outputs for simulating the dummy energy bar.

The structure that supports the dummy was built with iron sections, rubber bands and a motorcycle absorber welded to the base of the structure.
The code created for controlling the entire system can be downloaded here.