Anyone has ideas how to implement a boxing bag?

[Moshe Livne]

I would like to build a boxing bag for my kids that measure the hit strength. Anyone has any ideas how to implement this? would be better if its a standing one and not hanging. Maybe "bag" is a misleading word. can be just a padded piece of wood.

[hek]

Accelerometer?

[Moshe Livne]

@hek That's not a bad idea. Always wanted to use one but couldn't find an excuse. I hope they are sensitive enough to measure accelerations over very short distance. And mind you, their are reasonably feeble kids so also be able to measure very low accelerations

[Yveaux]

@hek Could work!
According to this site (not very scientific) maximum acceleration for an adult could hit roughly 9g!
Be sure to select an accelerometer that can handle this many g's. Most have multiple measuring ranges, so you could even switch between kids /adults on runtime.

[Moshe Livne]

@Yveaux no, not very scientific... actually when the punch hits the acceleration is almost zero - its more kinetic energy. It is being converted to the acceleration of the punching bag.
as i don't want something that will snap back and hit them in the face i will have to think of someway to dampen the energy on the return. All fun!
Oh @hek, can be a great use for your LED ring! show the punch level

[hek]