Development of Portable Kick Measurement for Martial Arts Sports

Achieving top performance in sports requires a measurement system to know the level of achievement of training. A comprehensive measurement system is also needed for martial arts sports. Shorinji Kempo is a competitive martial sport that requires a specific tool as a measurement system. In martial arts sport especially in fighting, relies on the speed and power of kicks to get a point. Therefore, the ability to measure this factor is very important. For this reason, we designed a system of portable measuring instruments that can be moved easily so that kick measurements can be taken wherever the athlete trains. This measurement kicking system can count the number of kicks, measure the time (in milliseconds), and the power of the kick. The hardware system consists of several analog piezoelectric sensors which are mounted on the back of the body protector. The sensor will detect the occurrence of a kick. This kicking system can be considered a reliable specific test for the assessment of Kempo-specific performance.