
New body armour promises to transform fighting sports - edward
http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21697212-new-body-armour-promises-transform-fighting-sports-modern-gladiators?fsrc=scn%2Ffb%2Fte%2Fpe%2Fed%2Fmoderngladiators
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Rhapso
Having done some SCA heavy, those open inner thighs make me twitch (armpits
too, but less could be done about that).

One thing SCA has figured out that the sports industry seems to have failed to
is how helms work. It turns out the best way to extend the reduce the impact
of hits to the head is NOT cushioning or crumpling to extend impulse but
rather just having a lot of mass to move. I've been smashed over the head at
full force (with a full wieght sword) while wearing full helm and been more
harmed by the gong-like ringing than the impact itself.

If you have not had a chance to try or watch SCA heavy, It is essentially full
contact re-enactment (slightly less formalized than HEMA) and only using blunt
(but full weight) weapons.

~~~
defen
> watch SCA heavy

Holy shit, these guys don't fuck around
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RiQR60-5gs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RiQR60-5gs)

~~~
laxatives
IMO nothing compares with longsword fighting. By comparison, SCA looks like a
bunch of big guys wailing on each other in the middle of a scrum. Longsword
fighting has a much more competitive environment with well defined technique
and strategy:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbcntqyiSo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhbcntqyiSo)

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themartorana
_"...bunch of big guys wailing on each other..."_

Add in death and dismemberment and you have what war actually probably looked
like for thousands of years - pure, unadulterated mayhem.

~~~
laxatives
Fair enough. I'd imagine the guys fighting had a lot more fitness and probably
weren't struggling with obesity though.

~~~
cafard
There was something on HN a year or two ago that said that gladiators tended
to be on the fat side. On the other hand, given the distances marched, I doubt
the hoplites and legionaries had much excess fat.

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mjs
A small amount of video from the test event:

[http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78468512/Weaponis...](http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/78468512/Weaponised-
martial-arts-bouts-pave-way-for-new-spectator-sport)

The umpire carries a shield and a hand axe!

There's also a few other videos on a YouTube channel:

[https://www.youtube.com/user/UnifiedWeaponsMaster/videos](https://www.youtube.com/user/UnifiedWeaponsMaster/videos)

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sjmulder
The designers and advertisers have gone full mental on this site:

[http://i.imgur.com/1mJPxyK.png](http://i.imgur.com/1mJPxyK.png)

This is after I dismissed the “click this to add this to your reading list”
popover.

~~~
arkitaip
Why you should use adblock:

[http://imgur.com/vKOQXOc](http://imgur.com/vKOQXOc)

~~~
gjolund
Extremely sound advice.

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duncanawoods
I like the idea of using real-time cgi to render shiny suits of armour and the
consequence of "hits". As grim as watching decapitation might be, I expect the
ratings would be huge.

~~~
bmelton
> As grim as watching decapitation might be, I expect the ratings would be
> huge.

I don't recommend watching it. Someone I know posted an ISIS (or similar)
video on Facebook, which popped up into my feed while I was doing something on
the other monitor, and it auto-played. By the time I realized that it wasn't
fake (it wasn't a clean, axe-lop decapitation, but rather done via sawing away
with what appeared to be a camp knife) and it literally froze me, then left me
quite out of myself.

I consider myself fairly stoic, and entirely un-squeamish, but that bothered
me in a way that I didn't realize anything could. For your own sanity, I
recommend avoiding it where possible.

~~~
martincmartin
Imagine what it's like for the poor people that moderate those posts.

[http://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-
moderation/](http://www.wired.com/2014/10/content-moderation/)

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programLyrique
Maybe it calculates the fractures and other injuries, but if the goal is
realism, as a wounded figther is likely to be less efficient, they should also
find a way of hampering movement for the wounded parts.

~~~
monk_e_boy
Like in enders game. The suit froze that part of the body. Which Ender used to
effect.

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ent
Strange that they didn't mention the indiegogo campaign they have going on.
54% funded. Sadly, the only part of the armour as a perk is a prototype helmet
at $25k. Campaign here [https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/unified-weapons-
master/#/](https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/unified-weapons-master/#/)

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exDM69
I was expecting this to be D3O gel armor. It's a new material that is gel-like
and flexible but turns rock hard on impact. It is used in motorcycle
protectors as well as industrial and defense applications.

I'm waiting to get equestrian protective vests from this material but I've
only found some very expensive competition jackets. The motorcycle protectors
don't have adequate protection to the sides for when you've fallen and get hit
by hooves.

[http://www.d3o.com](http://www.d3o.com)

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vilderbar_nugg
So like football, you can gird your loins so that your loins can be exploded
by even harder impact. This is insanity.

The only way to make "fighting sports" safe is to ban hits to damage-prone
areas of the body. But the organizing body's in those sports are unwilling to
go far enough - apparently we want, nay, _need_ to see blood, spit, injury and
yes, death in our "fighting sports".

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mjdude
Interesting,19 kilos is still fairly significant weight to be carrying around.
It'll have a material impact on the way a person fights.

~~~
jkot
It is hardly impressive. Mediaval armour had about the same weight:

> _A complete suit of plate armour made from well-tempered steel would weigh
> around 15–25 kg(33-55 pounds).[2] The wearer remained highly agile and could
> jump, run and otherwise move freely as the weight of the armour was spread
> evenly throughout the body._

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_armour](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_armour)

~~~
krautsourced
If I'm not mistaken plate armour wasn't all that great against blunt weapons
though, since it probably does not distribute the impact very well. Whereas
I'd suspect this kevlar armour to basically swallow those punches over a
larger area, no?

~~~
vlehto
No personal armor (so far) is good against blunt trauma. The reason for that
is conservation of momentum. Blunt weapons often rely on large amount of
momentum. Only thing you can do is to make the armor bouncy. So you can try to
turn it into elastic collision.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_collision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elastic_collision)

But then again they often added small spikes and rough surfaces to the tips of
such weapons, to turn it into inelastic collision.
[http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/images/Product/large/AH-...](http://www.medievalcollectibles.com/images/Product/large/AH-4130.png)
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inelastic_collision](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inelastic_collision)

The bad shit for the weapon is that it's very difficult to change the
direction of war-hammer mid course. So it's easier to block.

Kevlar makes armor of similar effectiveness lighter. But there is nothing
fundamentally better than old plate armors. It's still just distributing force
to larger area. With penetrating weapons this is potentially very effective,
as there is relatively little momentum and energy. The idea is to have very
high local pressure at the tip of the weapon and this normally cuts deep into
flesh.

~~~
try_sincerely
So morning star would be the weapon of choice there I suppose. Sword may win
"by points" but with morning star you'd have a solid chance of actually
neutralizing opponent.

~~~
NoGravitas
Historically, the weapon of choice for defeating plate armour was the pollaxe.

\-
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollaxe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollaxe)
\- Fiore's azza:
[http://scholasaintgeorge.org/training_docs/Basic%20Poleaxe%2...](http://scholasaintgeorge.org/training_docs/Basic%20Poleaxe%20in%20Fiore%202010.pdf)

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scentoni
I wonder how soon until this develops
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Park](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dream_Park)

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Tharkun
Why is there no "buy now"-button? I want this. For reasons.

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lanewinfield
I wonder which will win first to allow for intense sports like this: a 100%
safe armor/guard or a solidly realistic VR version of the same thing?

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jaimebuelta
Quite interesting that the words "new body armour" brings "sport" associated
before other stuff...

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sdneirf
Thats some heavy armor. Big guys are going the to advantaged to this.

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Aardwolf
Cool, kind of a blend between gaming and real sports

