Arm protection in the context of Historical European martial arts
Jasper Schenk (TU Delft - Industrial Design Engineering)
Charlie Wang – Mentor
Iemkje Ruiter – Mentor
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Abstract
This master thesis discusses the development of an arm protector for Historical European martial arts, H.E.M.A. in short. H.E.M.A. is a rapidly growing sport with currently over 40000 practitioners. The sport focuses on reconstructing and practicing the lost art of European sword fighting. The main problem of this sport however is that swords are designed to hurt people and good protection equipment is not available. The three main problems with the current protection are: (1) a lack in the freedom of movement, (2) protection and (3) fit provided by the product.
This thesis discusses these three topics in the analysis to determine the requirements to create an optimally functioning arm protector for the H.E.M.A. practitioner. During the concept development the arm protector is divided in different sections that are linked to specific requirements originating from the three research areas. Within these sections principle solutions are created, tested and selected to be combined in a preliminary design. The preliminary design is validated with experienced H.E.M.A. practitioners and further developed into the final design. The final design is a tailor made arm protector that exists out of stiff specifically shaped shells that can rotate relative to each other in order to create the necessary freedom of movement, protection and fit. This thesis is ended with recommendations discussing the further developments that are necessary to achieve a optimally functioning arm protector.