A far cry from the?choreographed duels you see?on film and the stage, fencing is?physical and mind testing combat.
?Fencing is very physical,?but also intellectual, it?s like fast?paced physical chess,? said longtime?fencer Jake Green.
Because of the speed of this?sport, it becomes incredibly?difficult for the director and the?audience to keep track of valid?and invalid touches.
Health, Physical Education?& Recreation adjunct instructor?Wayne Johnson, two-time?Olympian turned fencing?instructor, and Assistant Professor?of Mechanical Engineering Dr.?Jennifer McFerran Brock have?created a piece of technology?that will virtually eliminate this?problem.
?This is so elementary,?Johnson said. ?I can?t believe that?no one has thought of this before.?
With Johnson and Brock?s?technology, the director will have?a small piece of equipment that?receives a signal from the swords?when a touch takes place.?That signal is then transferred?to an ?actuator? (a hand held?object that will vibrate) in their?left hand for the fencer to their left?and one in their right hand for the?fencer to their right.?When the right hand fencer?scores a touch, the corresponding?actuator will vibrate in the?directors? hand, etc.?A good touch causes the?actuator to emit a constant?vibration, while a foul touch?causes an oscillating vibration.?This way, the director, without?taking his eye?s from the match,?can distinguish between a valid or?invalid point.
?That?s one of the cool things?about this technology,? said?Johnson. ?It allows the director?to completely focus on the match.?Divided attention is why most?calling errors take place. It totally?rules out biased calls as well.?
This is the biggest electronic?advance that fencing has seen in?the last 72 years, Johnson said.
Studies have proven that when?using Johnsons? actuators, the?directors? reaction times and?calling accuracy improve.?The actuators allow the director?to make calls using their senses of?touch, sight and sound.?During the development?process, Johnson had an epiphany.?Not only could his technology?reduce the strain placed on?the director, it could bring?the audience from a place of?observation to sensory interaction?using something as simple as a?cellphone.
Johnson is planning to write?an app that will use a cell phone?s?existing software to essentially?turn it into a ?receiver? and then?manufacture head-phone-like?objects that will act as ?miniactuators.??The app and corresponding?hand-held-actuators will allow?spectators to literally feel exactly?what the fencer is feeling, each?touch, instantaneously. It will be the only sport in?the world where the audience is?literally ?plugged in? to the action.
?We are investigating both?blue-tooth and Wi-Fi to see which?does not have a lag. Because?latency, a lag in the signal, would?be catastrophic,? said Johnson.??For accuracy sake, it needs to?feed instantaneously.?
Johnson and Brock presented?their technology at the National?Fencing Championship this?last summer, and from that?presentation they merited an?invitation to present at the World?Congress in December.
?We haven?t heard back yet?from the World Congress as to?whether or not we are actually?accepted,? said Johnson. ?They?issued the invitation and I?accepted, but it has to go through?the ?Comite Executif? of the?whole FIA.?
If this technology does indeed?get off the ground on a global?scale, it will change the sport of?fencing as we know it.
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Source: http://www.thenorthernlight.org/2011/10/05/fencing-gets-technology-advancement/
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