…first post? wtf? are we all back in 5th grade?
“I’m first! I’m the winnar!”

Back to the topic; interesting idea… though I can see where the timing pay be of issue with it taking that extra bit of time to move gloved hands rather than nimble thumbs.

I wonder if he could make a version with bigger zones to punch and a softer input method… that might be a bit more appealing.

Posted at 11:45 am on May 18th, 2009 by Louis II

Hey, this is sam, they guy that put this together.

You wouldn’t believe the difference in timing when you actually have to punch versus just pushing the button. Having played this game for so many years, it’s hard to readjust to having to take a full swing to hit the button.

We’ve played lots of games using this dummy now without it breaking a button. A good portion of the buttons are actually place in the foam rubber, so that absorbs some of the punch force.

Arcade buttons can stand up to a pretty good beating. How many button smashers slam these same buttons down playing fighting games at the arcades?

Would love to see someone improve upon this even more!

Posted at 11:56 am on May 18th, 2009 by sam seide

We did a punching bag project in school that could solve the button issue. We used a flexible strip that generated a voltage as it’s bent, I can’t remember the name of it now. It counted a hit if it was bent fast enough to generate the voltage.

Ours was a standalone punching bag system so we also used el-wire to indicate where to punch, and that is very flexible so we didn’t need to worry about breaking anything with a hard hit.

Posted at 11:56 am on May 18th, 2009 by Ryan

very cool

Now if you wanted to go all out, use ryans method for the hit zones. Vary difficulty by adjusting the required hit force, and generate different strength punches in game. Then add an IR headband for dodge and block detection (block if you cover the IR LED?).

This probably wouldn’t work as well as yours with punchout though, you’d want to write your own game too… heh

Similar example: http://ftpest.uniandes.edu.co/~dian-fer/ (they use piezos in addition to FSRs)

Posted at 12:51 pm on May 18th, 2009 by jproach

I am trying to get of Twitter Bar.How can i do that? Call me plrase at 503-752-8679

Posted at 2:32 pm on May 18th, 2009 by Michael Klonowski

I am trying to get rid of/delete Twitter Bar. E-mail at Klonowskimike@yahoo.com or call me at 503-752-8679. Thank you. It is interferring with other programs.
-Michael

Posted at 2:42 pm on May 18th, 2009 by Michael Klonowski

if I built one, I will make sure that it registers a head-butt (Holyfield style)!

Posted at 4:01 pm on May 18th, 2009 by momotarosan

Wow, putting your phone number up on the internets with your email. You must be deperate.

Posted at 4:04 pm on May 18th, 2009 by Jonathan Mayer

how about ears you can bite? Now THAT’s a true mike tyson’s punchout game.

Posted at 4:31 pm on May 18th, 2009 by Sam

seems counterintuitive to punch when you want to block, but its definitely nifty

Posted at 4:55 pm on May 18th, 2009 by anon

Wow, awesome follow up!

What other games have you used it with?

It’s just really cool to see a project where the authors are interested in the actual physical adaptation of some thing that was a simulation of a physical thing to begin with.

Duck Hunt will always be one of my favorite games because it implements physical elements to the simulation that are more than keypad pushing.

The physical contact part of this project is the win here, in my book.
:-)

Posted at 8:50 pm on May 18th, 2009 by Louis II

a few ideas:
How about some sort of air switch? like with a plastic or rubber air pocket hooked to an air trigger switch. Might work and survive much longer than the buttons (apparently they are going strong for the moment)

and a foot pedal for block a-la time crisis etc.

Posted at 3:00 am on May 19th, 2009 by MRE

If they are using regular arcade buttons then fear no longer.

Have you _seen_ how arcade machines are treated?
-and nobody is using gloves on them, let me assure you!

If you look at the way those buttons are designed you’ll see they are actually very robust.
When I serviced arcade machines in the early 90’s it was a rare thing to replace an entire button assembly.
Usually they were just gunked up with soda and could be washed out back at the shop for re-use.

even at that the cherry switch was usually just fine and snapped in for further abuse.

Posted at 3:14 am on May 19th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

**bows down**

Posted at 4:45 am on May 19th, 2009 by ho0d0o

Miachel. to get rid of twitter bar is very simple…

Open your computer while running, and look for the biggest heat sink. Remove that heat sink and spray salt water on the chip under it. If that does not work, switch to muratic acid that will certainly get rid of twitter.bar and other unwanted programs for you. After that your computer will run as fast as the day it was new.

Very important you do this while it’s on.

Note: if you cant get the big heat sink off, then you will have to submurge the whole pc while off in muratic acid for 12 hours. then hose it off, and put it in the dryer on high heat for 3 hours.

Muratic acid can be bought at any pool supply store. Rubbing the circuit board with naval jelly will also work.

Posted at 5:17 am on May 19th, 2009 by fartface

Funny how the guy demonstrating it is pretty scrawny and it’s pretty clear he wish he was less so, so it plays out nicely.
I wonder if we’ll see a follow-up in a few months to see if it helped.
Remember to get plenty of proteins, oh and steroids :]

Posted at 5:45 am on May 19th, 2009 by Wwhat

I’m not going to take steroids. haha. Yes, I weigh 140 pounds. I do play indoor soccer and am an active person outside of my geeky projects like this one.

strider is totally right about the arcade buttons. I too worked at an arcade in the late 90’s and the buttons were never a problem. The joysticks may get a little sticky, but you never had to do more than clean them up. Those things are sturdy!

a foot pedal to block would be neat, if it could be stolen off a time crisis that’d be awesome. The problem with footpads is always movement. It’d have to have some weight behind it (or be attached to the dummy) in order to keep it in the same place all the time. If it moves around, it makes it impossible to know where to push without having to look down. Reason I know this was I made some contact sensors using foil and foam rubber, where when you step down on it it compresses the foam rubber and connects the two pieces of foil. Even though I made quite large pads, since they moved around some while playing, I had difficulty dodging.

Posted at 6:32 am on May 19th, 2009 by sam seide

Why not just mount the same arcade buttons you have mounted in the dummy for block and dodge to a small platform on the floor? Then they wouldn’t move around and you could use footwork for dodging and blocking.

Posted at 10:10 am on May 19th, 2009 by Travis

that would work great as far a durability, but the problem then becomes the size of the button and trying to find it with your foot. I guess the solution would be to maybe make a box that housed the button, then place a board on top with some springs or something to hold it above the button that you could press down. That would probably give it the weight needed plus the size. However, you have to remember, in punchout you have normally just a fraction of a second to hit the button before you end up getting punched. Do you think you could lift up your leg and hit a button fast enough with your foot before the punch hits you? Watch the video to see even how quick it seems to come even just using a punch.

Posted at 1:40 pm on May 19th, 2009 by sam seide

well you COULD build this complex button arrangement, or you could use a ddr pad.

Posted at 3:19 am on May 20th, 2009 by Aleks Clark

just thought I’d let everyone know we posted up the follow up video of us actually playing the machine. You can see us punching this thing quite a bit harder and that you can actually KO the opponents using this machine:

Posted at 6:29 am on May 26th, 2009 by sam seide