Button or Sensor Advice

[iancox01]

Good Morning

I am trying to find the best part/solution for a project I am working on for an escape room and would really appreciate some help please

I need to have two buttons or sensors on a wall, but they need to be hit/triggered within a few seconds after lighting up. My concern is that they won't be 100% triggered when someone reaches for them - eg if they only just touch the edge of the button - and so I am looking for the best solution to create as close to 100% reliability when the hand touches the button or is sensed very close by. And one cannot trigger the other, there needs to be two separate motions. And finally the buttons/sensors will be linked with a webpage which will play a video clip when the buttons are triggered.

I hope the above makes some sort of sense! Does anyone please have any thoughts as to the best way of achieving this outcome? The max size would be approx 75 mm diameter but can be smaller.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me

Best regards
Ia

 

[rjenkinsgb]

How about something like these, in a "button" head mounted via a spring - any touch that made it move in any direction should trigger the sensor:

VS-102 | Assemtech Vibration Sensor, 309 mA Max, 9V Max, -25°C → +80°C | RS

uk.rs-online.com

Note that you do need the circuit shown or similar, as the internal contacts in the sensor may be open or closed when it is static; the circuit converts changes in state to a "triggered" logic signal.

Add a diode across the 470K resistor to give faster response but still a reasonable pulse output.

 

[Pommie]

A normal (non latching) emergency stop button (also called mushroom buttons) must pass vigorous testing but are probably (much) more expensive than RJ's solution.

Mike.

 

[parkerchip]

I think the previous suggestions are quite good, but I do prefer RJ’s solution. In case you need any components for the button/sensor, here are some online platforms to look for:

https://www.digikey.com/

https://www.mouser.com/

https://www.techdesign.com/market

Good luck!