Hello. I'm an amateur engineer that has dabbled in just about everything. Electronics, computer engineering, wood, metal, plastic, the list goes on and on. But I'm having trouble figuring out how to design my newest project. Sure, I do have ideas, but they're not elegant.

The machine is a piece of equipment that will deliver a lateral linear force against a person to test their resistance. It is being designed for use with the martial art Wing Chun to test the player's stance. A proper stance will allow the practitioner to withstand hundreds of pounds of force incoming from in front of them without moving backward.

I have absolutely no problem transforming a downward force into a lateral force to push a platform against the player's stance. The point where I encounter difficulty is that I don't just want a constant force, I would like to develop the machine as a sort of strain test; I would like to find a way to gradually increase the force applied to the player in such a way that it can still be resisted, but that it will increase until the player fails the test.

My original idea was to connect a reservoir to a pulley, and, as you fill the reservoir, it increases the load, which is turned into lateral force against the player. The problem with this is that I want the machine to be easily reset, so that the test can be run repeatedly. I'm having trouble figuring out a way to increase the load gradually in a way that would be smooth and still be easy enough to reset to ready position.

If anyone has any ideas, I'm open to absolutely any suggestions, even a redesign from the ground up. Small Bio