A wireless-sensor scoring and training system for combative sports

摘要

Although historically among the most popular of sports, today, combative sports are often viewed as an expression of our savage past. Of primary concern are the long term effects of participating in these sports on the health of participants. The scoring of such sports has also been the subject of much debate, with a panel of judges making decisions about very quick events involving large sums of prize money. This paper describes an electronic system for use primarily in the sport of boxing, though it is suitable for martial arts such as karate and taekwondo. The technology is based on a previously described sensor platform and integrates a network of sensors on the athlete's head, body and hands. Using a Bluetooth network, physical contacts are monitored in near real-time or post event on a remote computer to determine legal hits and hence derivative measures like scoring and final outcomes. It is hoped that this system can be applied to reduce the need for full contact contests as well as provide a more reliable method of determining the outcome of a bout. Other benefits presented here include the ability to analyse an athletes performance post match or training session, such as assessing the efficacy of training drills and effects of fatigue.