When BASE Productions sought sports biomechanics experts for their new National Geographic full-length feature “Fight Science”, they turned to the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Wayne State University.

The feature, being aggressively promoted before its airing August 20 on the National Geographic Channel, brings together bioengineers and the world’s top martial artists, along with Hollywood animators, to measure for the first time the extraordinary lethal forces applied by kick boxers, kung fu specialists, jiu jitsu and ninja fighters.

“I think the final product will be appreciated by a lot of different audiences, different age groups and backgrounds”, says Cynthia Bir, associate chair of biomedical engineering. Bir was invited to participate in the filming in Los Angeles, along with other experts, most of them with Wayne State College of Engineering affiliations.

The producers of Fight Science invited them to determine the comparative strengths, advantages and limitations of the various martial arts styles, measuring and mapping the speed, force and range of nerves, muscles, bones and weapons. The result is an impressive meld of science, violent martial arts attacks, and beautiful choreography, performed on a special dojo stage by the world’s top and most legendary martial art “champions” recorded and replayed in creative high tech animations.

The other experts were Tim Walilko, a WSU Biomedical Engineering graduate and senior engineer at Applied Research Associates; Randy Kelly, engineer and vice president of Robert A. Denton, Inc., (Denton is a WSU engineering alumnus); and Norman Murphy, biomechanist and director with Tekscan, Inc. an industry leader in force and pressure data capture.

Bir, an expert in ballistic and human body impacts, has worked extensively with a modified Hybrid II headform and complete crash surrogate for testing in her lab. The surrogate was used extensively on the Fight Science set to
measure the impact of punches and chops, martial arts weapons, and even a crow bar on the human body.

The surrogate and the recording instruments allowed her to measure the effect of a strike and its impact mechanism, says Bir. “I worked afterwards directly with Mickey Stern, the executive producer, to look at the data and to post process the data,” she adds.

The four experts, including Bir, gathered at a warehouse in a section of Los Angeles called Playa del Ray for two weeks during the summer of 2005 where they assisted Fight Science producers in creating the high tech dojo loaded with cells and pressure test sensors designed to measure forces exerted on the crash test dummy. Accelerometers, rotary potentiometers, and an in-shoe plantar pressure/force-measuring system (a NASA technology) were also employed. For filming, the producers used 32 infrared motion-capture cameras, three high-definition cameras and three high-speed cameras.

The experts set up their highly advanced equipment to precisely measure what force martial arts masters are capable of generating. The martial artists included tae kwon do champions James Lew and Bren Foster, jiu jitsu legend Rickson Gracie, karate practioner Mark Hicks, and ninjitsu expert and stuntman Glen Levy.

During the day, the fighters were filmed with the special high-definition cameras to record live-action martial arts moves, says Bir. In the evening, they donned tight suits studded with reflectors and duplicate the day performances. The fixed motion-capture cameras attached to the top of the set followed every move. The animators used it to create 3-D model in three layers: one for bones, one for muscles and one for nerves.

While the producers succeeded with the help of science to clear up some long-time myths and beliefs about martial arts, they also illustrated how mystical these extraordinary techniques remain. Is there really such a thing as a death punch? Yes. Which martial art is deadliest? (Watch Fight Science to learn the answer). The producers will say that the engineers proved that martial arts masters can strike four times faster than a snake and can kick with more than 1,000 pounds of force. And the impact of their kick can be compared to a 35 mph car crash, and can be deadly.

Fight Science, a two-hour world premiere special, will be broadcast Sunday, Aug. 20, 2006, at 9 p.m. EST on the National Geographic Channel.