title: The development of a stabbing machine for forensic textile damage analysis.
abstract: This article describes the development of a horizontal stabbing machine with an interchangeable knife holder to simulate stab events. The machine consists of a motorised arm with a pneumatic system designed to deliver 60 unique stabbing positions. The mechanics were robust and the positioning system highly reproducible with standard deviations of less than 1.0mm in the x-axis and 2.3mm in the y-axis for a given stab position. The force of the instrument may be varied by the operator to a maximum of approximately 221N. The suitability of the instrument for simulating stab events was evaluated by measuring the severance length and textile damage from stab delivered from four different knives and nine penetrating angles.
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Natasha.benson@student.uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Natasha
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia; Department of Engineering, Architecture and Agricultural studies, University of Santa Cruz do Sul, Santa Cruz do Sul, RS, Brazil. Electronic address: robsonos@outlook.com.
authors.forename: Robson
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Oliveira dos Santos
authors.affiliation: Specialist Operations, Australian Federal Police, GPO Box 401, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia. Electronic address: kate.griffiths@afp.gov.au.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Griffiths
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: ncole@swin.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nerida
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cole
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Philip.doble@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Doble
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: Claude.roux@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Claude
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Roux
authors.affiliation: University of Technology Sydney, Centre for Forensic Science, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia. Electronic address: lucas.blanes@uts.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lucas
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Blanes
keywords: Arduino; Knife; Stab; Stabbing Machine; Textile damage