GA collaborate in Ground Breaking Archery Aid

We at Glasgow Archers have, for a while, been looking into ways to help archer's performance. We have been collaborating with Strathclyde University engineering graduates and UWS IT graduates to develop a product over the last couple of years and we're now finally nearing completion. The brief was simple .. a device that could detect flaws in the archers shot and report on it in a timeous manner that would allow the archer to adjust given the input. The team's aim was focused on bow motion and vibration post shot as our input data. All things being equal, every shot will have similar characteristics, variances from which could be identified and reported on. We chose audio as the reporting method.

The Archery Sound Selector is the teams vibration detection and reporting system. In other words, an analytical device that will detect erroneous motion in your shot. It clips to your bow where, using accelerometers, it converts vibration/motion into electrical signals via piezoelectric crystals. These signals are extremely unique to each motion in the bow so issues can be identified as a specific problem when the signals are compared against the on board database. After one hundred or so calibration shots, the database will have enough data to interpret your shot and note issues with an audio response. The base sound pack is the "Competitive Archer". Commenting on errors like dropping the bow early "You are dropping your bow arm too early, try to keep it up", to a poor release "You need to release more smoothly, that was a ham fisted disgrace" or a catastrophic flinch "Jeez, that flinch should have dislocated your shoulder". There are over 100 unique errors recognized by this system. We conclusively proved it can successfully identify this many having detected all of them in John's shot.

Of course archers are at heart, kids. Somewhere in our callous, frustration scarred hearts is the youthful spirit who made bows out of sticks and shot bamboo canes at their sister/brother. We never really get over the pleasure of watching arrows fly unerringly towards boss, tree or sibling. To this end we created alternative sound packs to cater for this lightness. They can be loaded into the Archery Sound Selector after downloading from our site via computer/usb cable. These are a little less formal than the Competition Pack mentioned above but still gives excellent feedback while catering to those who prefer a more relaxed dialogue in their critique.

"Make a shot that poor again and I will slap you so hard, google won't be able to find you!" - Deadpool

The "Robust Criticism" pack is not for the faint hearted but can act as an extra level of motivation. Who could not be motivated by Father Jack telling your your shot was "ARSE!" and you should "FECK OFF!" from archery. Edmund Blackadder can chime in with “There hasn’t been a bow shot this badly since Prince Kyle, dimwitted cousin of Henry VIII, ordered 5,000 longbows that shot backwards.” An unnamed Olympic archer might chime in with "We learn so many things from archery - today you are learning to suffer". But its not all harsh critique. Julian Clary's "I so love a warm hand upon a good release" gives very positive feedback when shot signals match the ideal.
The "Python" pack comes with such classics as "That shot was so bad it turned me into a newt", "Your archery form is stiff, bereft of life, it rests in peace" and "You'd be better off using the holy hand grenade of Antioch than a bow".
The "Star Wars/Star Trek" pack comes with a large collection of blaster and phaser sounds including photon torpedoes, the Imperial March when perfection is achieved as well as Chewbacca's bowcaster. Hear a scathing yet insightful critique of a dodgy shot from our fav SF archer by playing the below.

The Archery Sound Selector will be available to be grabbed by the interested archer as of the date at the top of this article.

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Previous product created by GA's R&D team can be found here