I am currently researching a touch/force sensor for my project. Purpose of this post is to get your help in sensor selection.
Below is the information about the project so that you can get insight regarding the requirements:
Person A wears a jacket. We are able to modify the jacket, e.g. can put sensors inside it or cover it with special conductive surface and etc.
Person B has a stick which is also open to modifications. Once B's stick hits the A's jacket, we are able to sense this hit.
So, in a nutshell, aim is to make a clothing & stick pair that is able to detect a hit.
I want to note that measuring the force is not mandatory(even though I would prefer to read the scale of hit), just detecting a touch is sufficient (jacket-stick contact).
Also, it is not mandatory to know that the origin of the hit is from the stick(however this feature would also be beneficial). In other words, if third person would approach person A and kick him in the jacket, it is ok to measure it as well.
I have been thinking about sensor/material selection for the jacket. I am thinking about piezoresistive force sensors. They come in plate-like shapes, which I believe I can fit inside the jacket until whole jacket area is covered with them. Though, I am afraid about what will happen in a scenario when there is no external hit, but the person just moves(runs, stretches) and thus deforms them.
I also thought of this: To make the surfaces of jacket and the stick electrically active in a such way that once they touch each other, "circuit" will be closed and we will be able to detect that. I think similar approach is used in fencing. But I believe rain, or spill of water on the jacket can cause problems.
I wanted to ask your suggestions, considering that there are many novel technologies, probably special fabrics and etc. What kind of sensing mechanism(measurement method or sensor) would be the right one for this application?
