I was wondering if it could be turned into a good stationary target. I was thinking you could slap a fencing jacket on there and put a mask on him. What do you all think, do you think the "skin" would hold up to repeated blows?
Here are two pictures of my training facility. They are a bit out of date but apart from some re-arrangement (the same facility has to function as a workshop, too) the concepts have essentially been retained.
BOB seems to tolerate repeated hits with epee rather well. Recently, I wrapped the leg with cell foam to allow me to practice leg hits.
BOB seems more resilient than the Martialarm (here taped to the waterbag) - I managed to puncture the padding.
Other items of note: a) barrel full of sticks on the extreme left (from the good old days), b) tennis ball on a stick (do not like, do not use much) and c) DVD player to provide the sounds of NWA' "Straight out of Compton" while I train.
I was wondering if it could be turned into a good stationary target. I was thinking you could slap a fencing jacket on there and put a mask on him. What do you all think, do you think the "skin" would hold up to repeated blows?
We have BOB at our club and he has held up to all sorts of abuse. He quite often joins drills when we have an uneven number of fencers
" ... or spend fifty years learning to begin to learn to beat your adversary at fencing. After that you can start on mathematics, until it is time to learn to plough.” White, T.H. The Once and Future King (emphasis added)
Won't work very well for epee, where you really need an adjustable arm and leg.
I have seen some pretty nice "scare crow" like devices for epee which have both arms and legs, but they have all been home made.
BTW: JJ has one in his kitchen / dining room - presumably to keep him company when the cat won't talk to him.
Sam
Actually as soon as I start using it, she makes ugly Meows, gives me a dirty look and heads for the back of the house. Think the noise might bother irritate her. Or it might be that I'm using her cat climbing/clawing post as the main piece.
Anyway an arm and leg are easy to make. Hard part has been getting sufficiently resistant leather. Use of wood and steel "L" section to make the arm and leg. Cover with rubber sheet followed by leather glued rolled around the piece. Not terribly difficult to construct.
My school has a dummy that seems to be made just for fencing. He has a spot for the mask to go and everything. We threw a jacket and lame on him and an old, no longer legal mask on him and use him for practice. Heven't seen anything like him online before. Also, this was basicly just a post to cover up the spam ads, but it can be insightful.
He's playing a role in a set of partner drills. If that role requires movement, he's unlikely to do it correctly.
Simple Example Drill:
On A's advance, B attacks.
If Bob is A he might not make a mistake, but he's also not progressing through the drill very efficiently. If he's B he's unlikely to correctly execute the described action.
Error refers to a difference between actual behavior or measurement and the norms or expectations for the behavior or measurement.
For a drill partner, inactivity can easily be an error.*
Note that the same Wiki entry also disambiguates between "error" and "mistake" in a way that could result in "mistakes" not being possible from non-cognitive beings/things. I'm not sure that I'm willing to concede that they are non-synonymous in this manner, however. At least not in common usage, which is the appropriate context for this thread (especially given that the author of the original statement regarding "mistake" subsequently replaced that word with "error" in a follow-up comment).
-B
* One might, however, question the expectation that a Bob can correctly execute many drills that require action. It might even be said to be an error to have such expectations.
"Oh but you can't expect to wield supreme executive power just because some watery tart threw a sword at you!"
Originally Posted by Hokiiaidoka 
