DDR-like floor pad - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / projects

author: Watth
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 02:37:47 pm
content: Hey everyone,How would you implement a stepping pad, such as what exists for Dance Dance Revolution?The idea is to detect when a person steps on a floor pad (say about 30 x 30 cm) with a signal readable by a µCU.Could the capacitive touch sensor of an Esp32 be used?Thanks for reading!

author: ajb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 03:15:23 pm
content: Capacitive touch sensors would depend on what sort of shoes a person is wearing when they step on the pad, and could have problems if the pad gets wet. There are a number of other ways to do this, how durable do you need it to be? For example, DDR arcade machines use a heavy duty plastic plates in a big stainless steel frame to stand up to years of stomping, but you can also buy soft foldable/rollable DDR mats made of thin plastic for just playing at home.There are ready-made soft sensor mats available, I used this one on a project a few years ago:https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GUNX7WYI assume it worked well (never had a complaint from the customer anyway) but I wouldn't expect it to hold up very long to heavy use.

author: mtwieg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 03:57:17 pm
content: Ah dance pads, my first ever time touching electronics...There are tons of guides on different ways to build pads. The vast majority of them are built on simple switch contacts, some fancier ones use force sensing resistors or load cells.Also seen some based on much more novel approaches which do not rely on any mechanical forces or deflection (in particular optical sensing).Is your idea to use capacitance to detect the deflection/motion of a plate, or to directly detect a foot/shoe on top of a rigid plate?

author: edavid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 17, 2025, 04:22:18 pm
content: I built one recently using cheap "ZD10-100" force sensing resistors:https://www.aliexpress.us/w/wholesale-zd10%2525252d100.html?sortType=price_ascThe layers of the pad were:1. 1/8" thick Masonite sheet2. FSRs (just taped on to the Masonite)3. thin yoga mat (advertised as "3mm Thick High Density")4. vinyl overlay sheet printed with custom graphicsThe FSR values were sensed by Arduino analog inputs. I used 10K trimpots as pullup resistors, to be able to adjust the sensitivity.This was installed in a public place and survived use by thousands of visitors, including many children who stomped enthusiastically on the pad. I was surprised how well it worked.Note that if you need to sense pressure anywhere in a 30 x 30 cm area, you would have to use multiple FSRs of this size (they can just be wired in parallel), or possibly have some sort of wedge that directs the foot pressure to the FSR. (Instead, I put literal footprints on the overlay sheet to show the visitors where to step.)

author: Watth
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2025, 01:00:15 pm
content: Thanks for all the replies !I had an other design idea:A foam sheet (say 3 to 5 mm thick) is sandwich between 2 aluminium foils. the whole thing is electrically isolated to the exterior.When pressure is applied, the foam will compress, changing the capacity between the two Al sheets.Maybe an ESP32 touch sensor could be able to detect the cap difference (or a peripheral IC could do the trick).What do you think?

author: mtwieg
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2025, 05:29:52 pm
content: Sure, that could work. Though I would expect its sensitivity to change a lot over time, especially as the foam breaks down with use and age. I would only go that route if you devise an easy method of replacing the foam, or adjusting the sensitivity.