Final Project: Sensor

For the sensor, I decide to put it in the cushion of the seat. The cushion consists of a wooden board on the bottom with a foam pad on top of it. There are a few holes already in the board that I can run the sensor wires from the cushion to the bottom of the chair.

I started out making my force sensor for the chair. I started by taking the two wire-mesh pads from the video theatre mid-term project, and cutting them down to approximately a 2" x 3" rectangle. I was able to attain conductive foam from the NYU computer store, and then cut that down to a size just bigger than the wire-mesh pads. I placed the foam between the wire-mesh and placed them between the seat's board and foam pad. Unfortunately this sensor was unable to get a large range of readings. I did not want to make the sensor larger to fit the full size of the cushion because the added material would increase stuffing size to be bigger than the cover. So I changed out my sensor for a large force sensor from the computer store.

The force sensor was thin so I did not have to worry about too much stuffing in the cushion and the cover being able to contain all of it. This new sensor caused little changes in the cushion allowing it to retain it's shape.