This is a broad question but I want advice on what type of hardware I should look for to make a device that could measure the velocity of an object attached via a string/wire to some sort of rotary wheel.
The purpose of this is to attach it to a barbell and measure mean-velocity for weightlifting athletes.
I'm a software engineer by trade but know nothing about hardware. I'm hoping I can find something that would interface with arduino, as that would ease the learning curve.
As with such a broad question, I'm not looking for a solution, rather I would like to be pointed in the right direction.