Reactive Boxing Gloves

At Boston College, I help run a boxing class (free to all students), so I wanted to make something that could help beginners learn punches and always keep their hands up.

Shameless Plug: Please join the Martial Arts Club here at Boston College!

Materials Needed:

Circuit Playground Bluefruit

NeoPixel Strip

Boxing Gloves (preferably 12 oz)

3D Printer and PLA

Battery Pack

2 screws

Screwdriver

LED strip

Super Glue

Strong Tape (Duck Tape, electric tape, etc.)

First, I had to 3D print a mount for the CPB to lay on. I found a design meant for a lantern for the CPB, but it works for our boxing gloves in this case. Here is the link to the design: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2418725/files. There are many resources out there on how to 3D print, so please research online before printing on your respective printers. I used the Prusa Mini.

It took around 2.5 hours to print the mount, and then I superglued it onto my right boxing glove. Super awesome!

I then taped the battery pack to the "wrist" part of the gloves as shown above, so the battery would not fall while I was punching. Next, I screwed two screws into the mount as shown above, so the CPB would not fall while I was punching.

The 3D-printed mount had big enough holes for some screws, but you may need to tinker to find the right size of screws.

That should be enough support for the CPB to be powered by the battery pack without falling off the gloves! All you need to do is attach the battery pack to the CPB in order to power it up!

Next, it is time to attach the NeoPixel Strip!

To the CPB, attached the white wire to the signal you are using (I am using A1). Attach the black wire to GND, and attach the red wire to a power signal. My wiring is shown above.

Wrap the LED Strip around your gloves, and tape it down using strong tape.

Voila! The construction for your gloves should be good!

Next, the boxing gloves will make a sound based on what action you do. I recorded my voice using online-voice-recorder.com and then input the files into Audacity. I then adjusted to Hz to 22050, because the CPB will only accept that project rate. Finally, I made the volume louder by using the amplify effect, which was tough to do. The only thing left to do was to export these mp3 files as a wav files for the CPB to use.

I have attached wav files in this step, so they could be easily downloaded and usable.

Here is the code I used to make everything possible. I mainly utilized the accelerometer in the CPB to sense hand positions used for punches in boxing. This particular code measures a cross, right hook, and if you lower your guard.

The code also plays different sounds for each punch.

It is also important to note that this code is intended for the right glove.

Enjoy your finished product! You can use it for yourself to improve your boxing skills or give it to a beginner so he/she can improve their punches and guard.