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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

A new Kevlar-based body armor fitted with sensors could enable safe, "full contact", martial arts competitions [economist.com] in which combatants use blunted swords and other weapons:

The armoured body suit which Mr Söderström and his opponent are wearing is called the Lorica. It has been developed by Chiron Global, an Australian firm. At just 19 kilos, it is neither too heavy nor cumbersome to prevent even aerial cartwheels, but it is tough enough to render painless a powerful sword strike to the head or the chest, says Mr Söderström.

That protection comes from Kevlar, a tough synthetic material invented almost 50 years ago by DuPont and now extensively employed in protective clothing. In a Lorica, however, it is reinforced with carbon-fibre composites, a lightweight material that is stronger than steel and widely used in aerospace. On top of that are various polymers and other materials, which Chiron is keeping secret.

Some of the areas around the body's joints are protected only by a dense foam without a rigid shell. This allows mobility for moves like kicks, but it also means that strikes to certain areas of the body are banned and that the edges of weapons must be blunted. The company says its helmet can protect against the concussive injuries that now worry many in contact sports, but that remains to be seen.

It can get hot inside the suits, so fighters use a Lorica for 90-second bouts and then rest while they are cooled by compressed air blasted into a network of silicone tubes contained in the suit. The air passes out through thousands of tiny holes held against the skin by an undergarment.

Scoring is done by 52 sensors, which 10,000 times a second measure various forces, including blows, accelerations and vibrations, generated by the impact of hands, feet and weapons. The data are wirelessly transmitted to a computer to calculate the fractures, tissue damage and other injuries which are likely to have been sustained had the fighters been unprotected. Because there is little published information on wounds inflicted by blows from certain edged weapons on different body parts, Chiron's researchers plan to carry out their own experiments, attacking pig cadavers with weapons such as flails, arrows and ninja stars.

What this all adds up to, reckons Justin Forsell, one of Chiron's co-founders, is a telegenic new sport. A series of test fights using the system was staged in Wellington, New Zealand, in March. The first official fights, which are being branded as the Unified Weapons Master, will begin later this year in Australia, with competitions expanding to America in 2017.

Found at NextBigFuture [nextbigfuture.com]. Here is a dissenting view [blogspot.com] about the viability of Unified Weapons Master.

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