The Development of Microcontroller-based Reaction Time Measuring
Instrument for Sprinter
Bima Septiandi, Ridho Saputra and Agus Rusdiana
Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, Jln. Dr. Setiabudhi No. 229 Bandung, Indonesia
Keywords: Start Reaction Time, Research & Development, Sprinter, Microcontroller.
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to create a microcontroller-based start reaction time measuring instrument
using Research and Development (R&D) approach. This measuring instrument works when the START
button is pushed, LCD becomes active, buzzer rings, and the LED indicator turns on. When athletes hear the
sound from the buzzer, they release their feet from start block which causes push button on the right and left
side of the start block sends voltage to ATMega micro controller and causes timer to stop and LED showing
timer stops turn on. From this process, athlete reaction time can be seen on LCD. To restart the initial process,
RESET push button can be pressed. The sample in this research was divided into two groups. The first group
consisted of 30 students from sport science major, batch 2012 and the second group consisted of five sprinters
from PPLP Atletik Jabar, using simple random sampling technique. The analysis showed that this measuring
instrument had high validity score, which is 0.771 and a high reliability score, which is 0.834. The analysis
also showed that the relationship between sprinter’s start reaction time and 30-meter distance was not
significant.
1 INTRODUCTION
Technology utilization in order to improve
achievement has been implemented by developed
countries with good achievement. One of sport
technology product benefit is to make it easy to
conduct test and measure athlete’s ability. But, in
order to get sophisticated sport technology product, a
large amount of money is needed. This cause’s
technology involvement in sport is not fully accepted
in all countries, especially Indonesia.
In Indonesia, the test to measure sprinter' start
reaction time is still rare. If it exists, it only measures
reaction time which is measured using whole body
reaction. But, the test using whole body reaction only
measure reaction time in general, not specific for each
sport. High technology sport reaction time measuring
instrument is expensive, but it does not mean we
ignore this technology and how sophisticated it is.
Based on the importance of specific time
measurement for each sport, in sprint the sprinter
speed is determined by the fast sequential leg
movement. Speed depends on several influencing
factors, which are strength, reaction time, flexibility.
(Wilmore in Harsono, 1988, p.216). According to
Oxendine (in Harsono, 1988), “Reaction time is time
between stimulus and the first movement”. Reaction
speed includes time from stimulus to the first muscle
contraction. In sprint, initial reaction time is time
interval (ms) between starter gun signal and initial
moment when athletes can give pressure to starting
blocks (Pilianidis, T. et al.2011). Study by other
authors (Schot and Knutzen 1992; Harland and
Steele, 1997; Wang, 2006; Pain and Hibbs, 2007;
Babic, 2008; Babic and Coh, 2010) showed that they
agree that sprint result depends on the position of
initial block from center of gravity from reaction time
and initial acceleration time. Initial reaction time
from previously mentioned event contributed around
1% to 2% to sprinter’s overall performance
(Baumann, 1980; Helmick, 2003). Another research
shows that if the reaction time is better, sprinter
performance will be better (Pilianidis, T. et al. (2011).
From various researches above, start reaction time
affects sprinter performance very much. This is the
reason why researcher tries to make sprinter’s start
reaction time by developing existing instrument with
cheaper, more accurate, easy to use, with
microcontroller-based system which will show the
42
Septiandi, B., Saputra, R. and Rusdiana, A.
The Development of Microcontroller-based Reaction Time Measuring Instrument for Sprinter.
In Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education (ICSSHPE 2017) - Volume 2, pages 42-46
ISBN: 978-989-758-317-9
Copyright © 2018 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved

result on LCD. The data from using this instrument
can be used for practice and to analyze athlete’s
reaction time which can be used to improve athlete’s
performance. In this research, researcher will develop
start reaction time measuring instrument for sprinter,
based on microcontroller.
2 METHOD
The method used in this research was Research and
Development (R & D) cycle. This research used R&D
method because final result from this research
produced microcontroller-based sprinter reaction
time measuring instrument.
2.1 Participants
Research was conducted at Athletics and Football
Stadium, Sport Science FPOK UPI Laboratorium,
and Padjajaran Stadium Bandung by involving 30
students from sport science major batch 2012 and five
sprinters from PPLP Atletik Jabar as sample. The
participants are 12-25 years old and are used to doing
squat start.
2.2 Tool’s
This instrument aims to measure sprinter reaction
time, which is the time between the sounds of
modified starter gun with buzzer until the first jump
start on start block. The sprinter reaction time
measuring instrument was designed to be portable. It
took two months to build the measuring instrument.
Researchers cooperated with electrician and welder.
This is the microcontroller-based sprinter reaction
time measuring instrument.
2.2.1 Push Button
Figure 1: Push button.
This start reaction measuring instrument uses two
box-shaped push buttons which are attached to foot
step device on start block.
Figure 2: Box-shaped push button on foot step device on
start block.
The box-shaped push button acts as button located
on right and left side of start block which sends
voltage to microcontroller ATMega and causes timer
to stop if it is released or if athletes perform jump start
shown on LCD.
The push button has a function to start the time if
it is pressed (start button) and to restart measurement
if it is pressed (reset button).
Figure 3: Push button.
Push button can be seen on figure 3.
Figure 4: Push button in box.
Push button on box can be seen on figure 4.
Figure 5: The Product Design of Starting Blocks test
reaction time.
The Development of Microcontroller-based Reaction Time Measuring Instrument for Sprinter
43

2.3 Operating System
The first step to see how the instrument works is by
connecting connector between box (microcontroller)
with box-shaped push button on start block and also
to buzzer/ speaker. Next, accumulator connector is
connected to box (microcontroller). Make sure that
LED is turned on as a sign that box (microcontroller)
and push button on box have been attached well.
Make sure that everything has been installed well, and
then the test is ready to be conducted.
Make sure that sample is already on crouching
start position and both feet have stepped on box-
shaped push button on start block. If it is correct, LED
will not turn on. After that, press start push button on
box, buzzer will automatically rings as a sign that
time measurement has started. When sample has
already heard the sound, sample immediately does
start or jump start on start block. If the foot has been
released from box-shaped push button on start block,
time measurement will automatically stops. The time
will be shown on LCD on the box. To reset timer to
initial condition, press reset push button on box.
Repeat the steps from the beginning if you want to
continue to the next samples.
2.4 Validity and Reliability
In order to measure validity on this research, criterion
validity was used. Criterion validity according to
Suharsaputra, U (2014) is “the validation of an
instrument by comparing it to other valid and reliable
measuring instrument by correlating them. If the
correlation is significant, the instrument has validity
criterion.”
In this research, the test result correlated whole
body reaction test with test using specific reaction
time measuring instrument for sprint (start block
equipped with microcontroller).
In order to measure reliability, this research used
Test-retest approach. Suherman dan Rahayu
(2014) stated that “Reliability is obtained by
calculating correlation between score from first
measurement and score from second measurement”.
This research correlated test using specific reaction
time measuring instrument for sprint (start block
equipped with microcontroller) and the measurement
was conducted twice.
3 COPYRIGHT FORM
Table 1: Reaction time test result with whole body and
starting block.
No
Test
Name
Average
1
Whole
Body Reaction Time (s)
0,341
2
First Start
Block (s)
0,348
3
Second Start
Block (s)
0,354
Table 1 explains the result of reaction time test. The
average of whole body reaction time test is 0,342 s,
while the average of first starting block test is 0.348 s
and the average of second starting block test is 0.354
s.
3.1 Statistical Validity Result
Validity test in the research correlated whole body
reaction test to test using specific reaction time
measuring instrument for sprint (start block equipped
with microcontroller). Correlation test analysis is
shown by Pearson correlation with the value of 0.771,
p= 0.00 < 0.05 which means there is significant
relationship between reaction time using whole body
reaction and specific reaction time measuring
instrument for sprint (start block equipped with
microcontroller).
It can be concluded that the instrument developed
can measure what it has to measure. (Serpell, Ford,
and Young 2010; James et al. 2010; Y Hachana, H
chaabe ` ne, M A. Nabli, A Attia, J Moualhi, N Farhat
2013; Pauole K, Madole K, Garhammer J, Lacourse
M 2000).
3.2 Statistical Reliability Result
In order to measure reliability in this research, Test-
retest method was used to calculate correlation
between score on first measurement and score on
second measurement for reaction time test using
microcontroller-based starting block. Correlation test
analysis showed pearson correlation of 0.834, p =
0.00 < 0.05 which means there is significant
correlation between the first and second reaction time
test on specific reaction time measuring instrument
ICSSHPE 2017 - 2nd International Conference on Sports Science, Health and Physical Education
44

for sprint (start block equipped with microcontroller).
The sprint-specific reaction time measuring
instrument (start block equipped with
microcontroller) has performed constant function, so
it was categorized as reliable. (Serpell, Ford, and
Young 2010; James et al. 2010; Y Hachana, H chaabe
` ne, M A. Nabli, A Attia, J Moualhi, N Farhat 2013;
Pauole K, Madole K, Garhammer J, Lacourse M
2000).
3.3 Discussion
After the statistical test was conducted, Pearson
correlation of 0.771 and p = 0.00 were found. It means
the relationship between whole body reaction
instrument and sprint-specific reaction time
measuring instrument (start block equipped with
microcontroller) was high. It can be interpreted that
the test using sprint-specific reaction time measuring
instrument (start block equipped with
microcontroller) resembled the previous test (general
reaction time test using whole body reaction) which
has been specifically developed for sprint. So, sprint-
specific reaction time measuring instrument (start
block equipped with microcontroller) is valid.
Researchers tested the same sample twice. From
statistical calculation using bivariate correlation
coefficient, it was obtained that the Pearson
correlation is 0.834 and p =0.00.
It can be concluded that there was relationship
between the first and second reaction time on sprint-
specific reaction time measuring instrument (start
block equipped with microcontroller). Based on
Pearson correlation score, it can be seen that sprint-
specific reaction time measuring instrument (start
block equipped with microcontroller) has been able to
run its function constantly, so the instrument is
reliable.
4 CONCLUSIONS
This instrument works when START push button is
pressed. Timer on LCD will become active, buzzer
will ring, and LED indicator will turn on. When
athletes hear the sound from speaker or buzzer,
athletes released his foot from start block, causing
push button on right and left side of start block sends
voltage to microcontroller ATMega and causes timer
to stop, LED indicator to stop timer will turn on. From
this process, time reaction value/athlete reaction
speed can be seen on LCD. In order to restart the
initial process, you can press RESET push button.
Sprint-specific reaction time measuring instrument
(start block equipped with microcontroller) measures
what it is supposed to measure, or in other words, it is
valid. Sprint-specific reaction time measuring
instrument (start block equipped with
microcontroller) has been able to perform its function
constantly so it is reliable. This explains that the
development of microcontroller based sprinter
reaction time measuring instrument can measure
sprinter reaction time well.
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