A 2,000 year-old martial art is being brought into the 21st century using wireless technology.
Scientists at Stanford University in the US have developed a system to measure the force of blows in the Korean sport of Tae Kwon Do.
It works by using wireless sensors in the gear wore by competitors.
“The fact it can work with the scoring system to improve a judge’s performance is what we consider to be the novel aspect,” said Dr Ed Chi.
Apply force
Tae Kwon Do is one of the most popular martial arts, officially practiced in 120 countries by more than 20 million people.
Competitors earn points for landing blows to a scoring region of an opponent.
The team at the Palo Alto Research Center (Parc) at Stanford University have taken computing technology and adapted it to this ancient sport.
They have created a body protector, called a hogu, implanted with wireless pressure sensors using piezoelectric materials.
The piezoelectric sensors convert the force of a blow into an electrical signal which is transmitted to a laptop base station.
The hi-tech hogu is due to go on sale at the end of the year and is expected to cost about the same as a normal one.
Changing sports
The team have shown off the system in regional matches in the US, but have yet to demonstrate it at an international tournament.
“The system functions as an additional judge, rather than replacing them,” Dr Chi told BBC News Online, although he could foresee potential problems.
“Currently there is an inherent bias against punches as a scoring implement as most judges do not believe that punches deliver the same amount of force as a kick.”
“With our system, we are able to establish how much force the punch was able to deliver and this could provoke controversy among judges if the punch was not scored.”
The system could also be used for other martial arts or contact sports such as boxing.
But having technology accepted in a traditional sport like fencing have proved difficult.