Smart textile device for shooter’s fingers movement monitoring

BACKGROUND The manner in which shooters pull the trigger may significantly affect the shooter's results. Shooting coaches are often not able to detect incorrect pull because of gun movement during the shot and recoil. OBJECTIVE Development of the smart-textile based trigger pull monitoring system and demonstration of its ability to distinguish correct and wrong triggering techniques. METHODS Two separated knitted resistive pressure sensors were integrated over III and II phalanges in the index finger fingerstall; single sensor was integrated over both III and II phalanges of the middle finger fingerstall. Resistance of the sensors was measured in a course of shots, performed by expert shooter, which simulated typical novice's trigger pull errors. RESULTS Sensors' resistance recordings were made for following erroneous trigger pull motions: pulling of the trigger with index finger's II phalanx instead of III; fast and jerky trigger pull (trigger tear-off); too fast release of the trigger after shot; and excessive grip force, applied by middle finger. For each type of erroneous movement, recordings waveforms included distinguishable features that characterised a particular type of error. CONCLUSIONS The developed trigger pull monitoring system provides signals that could be used for recognition of the incorrect trigger pull motions during gun shots.