Download the Quick Start Guide
(pdf) that comes with new boxes. Print double-sided, trim along the
dotted lines, and fold in 4. It will fit in the shipping box under the
scoring box.
Physical buttons
There are three buttons on the box: a red button and two white buttons.
The red button has three functions:
A quick press will cycle through the weapon modes.
A long press will enter/exit the configuration menu on the box. This
is primarily useful to set the strip ID by pairing a remote.
A very long press (5s or more) will reboot the scoring box into
firmware upgrade mode. Once this is entered, it will remain in firmware
upgrade mode until the firmware is uploaded or the box is rebooted.
The two white buttons navigate and adjust the configuration menu: the left
button moves up (or decreases a value) and the right button moves down (or
increases it). Together with the red button (which acts as OPT/select
inside the menu), this lets you configure the box on its own, with no
remote needed. Outside the menu the white buttons do nothing.
The two white buttons may also be held down when the box is powered on to
immediately enter firmware-update mode as a recovery mechanism.
Configuration Menu
Long press the red button on the box or long press the OPT button of a
paired remote to enter the configuration menu. Once in the config menu,
use OPT to select items and CLR to exit items or CLR again to leave the
config menu.
You can also operate the menu using only the box's own buttons, with no
remote: the red button acts as OPT (select an item, then select again to
finish editing it) and a long press leaves the menu, while the left white
button moves up or decreases a value and the right white button moves down
or increases it. This lets you configure the box — including enabling
Bluetooth and setting the Strip ID — without a remote.
The configuration items are:
Strip
The strip ID of the box which defines which remote it will respond to.
See Pairing a Remote.
Remote
The last received charge level of the remote, usually in 5% increments.
This cannot be changed.
EpeeAuto
Whether to auto-increment the score when a hit occurs in Epee (only
while the clock is running).
Passive
Controls what happens when the passivity shot clock expires (foil and
epee only; saber does not have a passivity clock). This can be set to:
Stop: The bout clock stops and further touches are blocked
when the passivity threshold is exceeded — similar to when the period
expires. The passivity state clears when a P-card is given, the clock
is restarted, reset, or manually adjusted. The box beeps and the
passivity clock flashes.
Cont: The bout continues normally after the passivity
threshold is reached. The passivity indicator will flash but the clock
keeps running and touches are still accepted.
The default is Stop.
SaberPer
Whether to display the period indicator for Saber.
Tone
The buzzer frequency in Hz (2700 - 3300). This can be useful if you have
multiple boxes near each other.
Vol
The box volume (Off / Low / Medium / High).
Btn Beep
Whether to make an audible chirp every time a remote button press is
received.
StartSnd
Whether to sound an audible signal when the bout clock is started. This
can be used instead of the director saying "fence!" or "allez!".
Self Ref
Allow fencers in foil and saber to start the bout clock and increment
scores without using the remote. When enabled, if both fencers short
their weapons to their lamés for at least 600ms then the box will beep
once to acknowledge and then start the clock with a double beep after a
short random delay of 1.5 - 3.5 seconds. Fencers can also increment the
score for their opponent by shorting to their own lamé for 3 seconds.
The box will emit warning chirps for the final 1.5 seconds to notify
fencers and prevent accidental scoring.
Timing
The timing standard used for lockout windows, passivity thresholds,
and default clock durations. This can be set to:
FIE: Standard FIE timing. Lockout windows are 300ms
(foil), 170ms (saber), and 40ms (epee). The passivity threshold
is 60 seconds. The default bout clock is 3:00 for all
weapons.
WFL: World Fencing League timing (according to preliminary
reports). Lockout windows are shorter: 200ms (foil), 100ms (saber),
and 40ms (epee). The passivity threshold is 45 seconds. Default bout
clocks vary by weapon: 2:00 (foil), 1:00 (saber), 3:00 (epee).
The default is FIE. When any non-FIE timing is active, a scrolling
"NON-FIE TIMING" banner is shown and the display uses amber/purple
colors to visually distinguish from standard FIE mode.
Timeline
Whether to display the hit timeline. This can be set to:
Off: The timeline is never shown and not available, even for review.
Live: The timeline is always shown with live strip interactions being constantly shown.
Hit: The timeline is shown only when a touch occurs.
For example, competitions may opt to either disable the timeline
entirely or show only when a hit occurs and allow reviewing the timeline
to disambiguate calls.
HitTimes
Whether to display extended hit information such as whipovers and late
hits.
Rot
Whether to rotate the display 180 degrees. This can be useful if the box
is mounted upside down.
L/R Swap
Swap the left / right fencer connections. This can be useful if the box
is mounted upside down.
Live Vid
This is for integration with an external video replay system. It will
indicate that the video replay system should display continuous live
video (instead of only showing replays).
Bluetooth >
Enable and manage wireless Bluetooth connections to the box. See
Bluetooth below.
System Info >
Select this option to show the serial number and current firmware
version of the device.
Update >
Select this option to show the current firmware version and optionally
reboot into firmware update mode via USB. If you choose to reboot into
update mode, you may exit without updating turning power off and back
on.
Remote
Hover or tap on the buttons below to learn what they do.
Remote ID (Strip ID)
Each remote stores the Strip ID that it is configured for. Boxes and
remotes are initially configured as "Strip 1". Scoring boxes will only
respond to signals from remotes that have the same Strip ID as the scoring
machine. To change the ID for a given remote, press and hold the SET
button and PLUS button on the opposite corner for 5 seconds until the
green LED flashes several times quickly. Then enter a two digit strip id
(01 - 99). The green LED will flash quickly again when the new ID is
set.
Charging
The remote is powered by an internal rechargeable battery. The battery
should last 1-2 months of typical usage. When necessary, recharge the
battery by connecting it to a standard USB-C charger.
Pairing a Remote (Setting the Strip ID)
To pair a remote with a customized strip ID (see above) with a box, do
the following:
Long press the red button on the box to enter config mode.
While config mode is active and the option is on strip id, it will
detect any remote. Press the OPT button on the remote twice to set the
new strip ID to the remote's ID.
Press CLR on the remote several times to exit config mode.
Bluetooth
The box continuously broadcasts its state over Bluetooth so nearby devices
can follow the bout. Turning on BT Enable in the Bluetooth menu
additionally lets up to three devices connect directly to the box at once.
A connection is one of two kinds:
Unpaired connections are read-only: they can listen to the
box's state (score, clock, lights) but cannot control it.
Paired connections can also send remote commands to the box.
A paired device is clearly indicated on the box — a "BT REMOTE"
banner appears when it connects (showing the device's name, if it has
set one), and a small blue dot at the bottom right of the screen stays
lit while it is connected.
Pairing is secured with an on-screen PIN, and is only accepted while the
box is in the Bluetooth menu, so a stray device nearby can never quietly
pair with your box. Up to 5 paired devices are remembered across power
cycles.
Pairing a device
Use the Skewered
Fencing app for Android to connect to a box (an iOS version is in the
works). To pair:
On the box, enter the config menu and open Bluetooth, then
set
BT Enable to Yes.
In the app, select your box to connect. The box displays a six-digit
PIN.
Enter that PIN in the app to complete pairing. The box shows a "BT
REMOTE" banner once the device connects.
Stay in the Bluetooth menu until pairing completes — pairing
requests are rejected otherwise.
Bluetooth menu items
BT Enable
Whether to allow devices to connect directly to the box. The box
broadcasts its state either way; this controls direct connections.
Paired >
The list of remembered (paired) devices, most recently used first,
shown by name (or the last four characters of the device's address if
it has no name). Select Clear All at the bottom of the list to
forget every paired device.
PIN
The six-digit pairing code, shown only while a device is pairing
(otherwise "---"). This cannot be changed.
Active
How many devices are currently connected, shown as used / total (for
example, 1/3). This cannot be changed.
If wireless goes offline
Scoring never depends on Bluetooth — a wireless problem only affects
the Bluetooth link, never the bout. If the wireless radio ever gets stuck,
the connected dot turns into a slowly breathing red marker. Simply open the
config menu and the box restarts the radio for you; the restart is fast
enough to be seamless, leaving you in the menu with wireless back online.
Updating the scoring machine firmware
To update the firmware of the scoring machine, follow these steps:
Download the desired firmware version to your computer. Do not
alter the name of the firmware file.
Connect a micro-USB cable from your computer to the micro-USB port
at the bottom of the back of the machine. If the scoring machine is
powered off, it will turn on when the USB cable is connected.
Enter the menu and select "Update" and then "Yes".
Note: If necessary, there is also a recovery
mechanism for entering firmware update mode: hold down the two white
buttons when powering on the box.
On the computer, a USB drive named "RPI-RP2" should show up.
Copy the firmware file to the "RPI-RP2" drive. Once it finishes
copying, the drive will automatically disconnect and the scoring machine
will restart with the updated firmware.
In some cases, the saved configuration will be reset after an
update. Press and hold the same button on the scoring machine (the
button further from the power switch) for 1 second to enter
configuration, then press "OPT" on the remote twice to register the
remote. You may also have to navigate the config menu to adjust the
screen rotation.
Bluetooth Remote Control:
The box can now be controlled over Bluetooth, not just observed.
Up to three devices can connect at once — unpaired
connections follow the bout read-only (like a wireless repeater),
while paired devices (like a phone) can also send commands and are
clearly indicated when connected. Connect with the
Skewered
Fencing app for Android (an iOS version is in the works). See
Bluetooth for setup.
NOTE: Bluetooth is still evolving and the protocol may
change between releases.
Smoother Display, Better Slow-Motion Video:
The display engine was rewritten to refresh continuously in the
background, more than doubling the frame rate to over 450 fps.
This eliminates the rolling "banding" lines that cameras can pick
up in slow-motion video.
Configure Without a Remote:
The two white buttons now navigate and adjust the configuration
menu directly on the box, so you can change settings —
including enabling Bluetooth and setting the Strip ID —
without a remote. See Configuration Menu.
Fix: Restored the ability to view the timeline during the
one-minute break.
Timeline Review Shows Touches:
When reviewing the timeline after a touch, the scoring lights now
indicate the type of hit that triggered the touch (valid,
off-target, or late) as a small overlay at the bottom of the valid
light area. This makes it easier to understand what happened at a
glance when reviewing the last touch, but it doesn't interfere
with new touches registering or showing.
WFL Foil: No Off-Target:
In WFL timing mode, foil off-target hits are now ignored.
Off-target will still be visible in the timeline, but no longer
stops the action.
Manually set passivity:
In foil or epee, holding down SET the first time already allows
setting the time as M:SS. But now holding down SET again will
allow explicitly setting the two digit passivity timer.
WFL Timing Mode:
Added a configurable timing mode (FIE / WFL) in the config menu
under "Timing". The default is FIE with all of the standard weapon
times. In addition, a new preliminary
WFL mode is added that uses shorter lockout windows (foil
200ms, saber 100ms), a 45-second passivity shot clock (vs FIE's
60s), and default bout times of 1 min for saber, 2 min for foil,
and 3 min for epee.
NOTE: To prevent any possible accidental usage of non-FIE
timing modes, the display shows a scrolling "NON-FIE TIMING"
banner and uses a tweaked color scheme: amber stopped clock and
purple scores.
Passivity Stop:
A new config option "Passive" (Stop / Cont) controls what happens
when the passivity shot clock expires. When set to "Stop" (now the
default behavior), the bout clock stops and further touches are
blocked — similar to when the period clock expires. The passivity
state clears when a touch occurs, a P-card is given, the clock is
restarted or reset. The "Cont" option behaves as before where the
passivity clock simply changes color when exceeding 60s.
Fix: Eliminated intermittent buzzing noise when idle.
Fix:
Fixed a bug where an expired clock could be incorrectly encoded
as a break timer in the serial protocol. Removed some invalid
event transmissions.
Repeaters: Improved serial stability and display reliability.
‼️ Improved Saber Whipover Detection:
Saber whipover detection was missing some situations and would not
properly reject whipovers during longer parries. It will now catch
these and reject whipovers properly.
‼️ Fix Epee Auto Scoring Double Touch Bug:
In rare circumstances, Epee Auto Scoring would detect and display
a double touch but only award a single touche for the score
(instead of awarding a double touch). This would only occur if the
second touch was within 1ms of the cutoff and even then in only
about 20% of occurances. It is now fixed for all timings.
Improve P-Cards:
P-cards are now drawn as tiny P-shaped cards instead of
rectangles. This helps distinguish them from normal cards.
P-cards are now always granted and cycled for both fencers
simultaneously (rather than individually).
Display improvements:
Color representation has been improved, especially with dimmer
colors. This has allowed the display frame rate to increase to 200
fps, which improves the display quality in recorded videos.
Fix: Stop buzzing sound. The system would previously
sometimes make a buzzing sound when idle. That has been eliminated.
Reduce Mistakes: This release focuses on reducing mistakes
and making the box simpler and more intuitive. In addition to Undo
(below), several minor improvements were made:
When the bout clock is running, operations such as changing
the weapon mode, clearing scores, or resetting the clock are
blocked. If one of these is pressed, the clock will flash red to
indicate that the operation cannot be done.
When reviewing the timeline for a touch, pressing CLR or SET
will exit the timeline view instead.
New Feature: Undo. A long-press of white ↩️ (left) button
triggers undo. The box now keeps a history of recent inputs and
allows undoing operations. In particular:
If you accidentally clear the scores, undo will restore the scores.
If you accidentally start a one-minute break and lose the
lock, Undo will restore the clock.
If you accidentally reset the clock, undo will restore the
clock. If you reset the clock during the one-minute break, it will
restore the "on break" status and continue counting down.
New Feature: Bluetooth support for SFS integration! This
release provides the initial bluetooth broadcasting support so that
the Super
Fencing System iOS App can connect to Skewered Fencing Boxes.
Please note that the bluetooth protocol is still in development and
may change.
New Feature: Direct entry for bout clock! Previously, a
long press of the SET button would reset the timer to 1:00.
Long-pressing the SET button now allows you to directly type in a time
in M:SS format. By default it's set to 1 minute, but using the button
numbers you can enter any time from 0:00 to 9:59. Pressing SET or CLR
will immediately accept the currently-displayed time.
New Feature: Allow showing the timelne only when a hit is
made. The timeline now has three options:
Off: The timeline is never shown and not available, even for review.
Live: The timeline is always shown with live strip interactions being constantly shown.
Hit: The timeline is shown only when a touch occurs.
The new "Hit" option may be a better option for competitions to avoid
distracting live updates by still allowing review of a timeline to
disambiguate the sequence of actions around a touch.
Update: When the timeline is not disabled, the review may
be started either from the most recent portion (by pressing the back
button) or the earliest captured portion (by pressing the forward
button).
New Feature: Allow reviewing the timeline for the last
touch as well as scrolling back in time to see more. After a touch,
press the white ↩️ button to view the most recent touch timeline.
Press ↩️ again to scroll further back, and press ↪️ to scroll forward
in time. Scrolling forward to the end will stop the review and restore
the live timeline.
New Feature: Add self scoring and rename "Self Clk" to "Self Ref". Fencers can now donate points by
shorting to themselves for 3 seconds. This is also a temporary
"Ticker" option to indicate that self start is engaged.
Fix: Show ground light on epee if a fencer's A-C lines are shorted.
Remote: Final production version of remotes include battery level monitoring and colored LED indicator for the battery level (green flash = >40%, yellow = 20-40%, red = <20%).
Config menu: Display charge level of remote battery for production remotes.
Config menu: Add system info display to show serial number and firmware level.
Internal: Add a quick firmware update mode sequence: hold the two white buttons when powering on to immediately enter firmware update mode at startup.
Internal: Increased display framerate to minimize flicker on recorded videos.
UI: Center scores move penalty cards to outside (P-Cards still on inside).
UI: Fix buzzing when 1 min break timer expires.
UI: Flash the clock when time has expired (either break or normal).
Config menu: Add firmware update screen, showing current build.
Internal: Revamp serial communication for Favero repeater adapter and video replay support.
Build 201 (2024-11-06) →
download 💾
Fix two bugs related to Favero repeater lights via the prototype
adapter:
In foil, after the lockout period off-target hits would
light up the white light momentarily like in saber instead of being
locked out. This is now fixed.
When the box went to sleep the
repeater lights would stay on. They should now turn off.
Skewered Fencing