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Thursday, August 16, 2012

Bikes / Transportation / Tech / Fashion "Invisible Helmet" Not Actually Invisible

Posted by Anna Minard on Thu, Aug 16, 2012 at 1:05 PM

It just looks like a scarf. But it still seems pretty amazing. Have y'all seen this already? It's been flooding my internets for days. Two Swedish students-turned-businesswomen have invented a bicycle helmet that instantly inflates when you crash, like a head airbag. It is kept under a fashionable outer wrap and activated via "accelerometers and gyros." Here, see video:

A longer video that is mostly interviews with the helmet's creators is right here. Here is the website for the invis-helmet, which is named Hövding.

Thanks, Slog Tipper Jon E.!

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Comments (13) RSS

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I don't mean to be a "spoiler alert" jerk, but half of the fun of this video was that I had no idea what they meant by invisible helmet until the very end. And now you've just gone and told everyone...

Posted by Julie in Eugene on August 16, 2012 at 1:13 PM

That is so last week. We've already moved on to stolen bike recoveries, Einstein's slippers, Paul Ryan's "dad pants", and iPhone 5 previews.

This is the Interwebs - you have to keep up...

Posted by COMTE

on August 16, 2012 at 1:17 PM

Do the gyros activate while simply falling from gravity? I use a bicycle helmet for inline skating and I have a greater chance of falling on my ass than getting hit by something. And when my dad couldn't get his locking bicycle shoe out of the pedal at a stoplight he fell to the ground from a standstill.

Posted by Lumpmoose on August 16, 2012 at 1:18 PM

riding with a scarf looks hot. literally temperature hot.

Posted by Max Solomon on August 16, 2012 at 1:23 PM

Also does not prevent whiplash.

Posted by WenWino on August 16, 2012 at 2:10 PM

I saw this via Vimeo's favorites the other day, and I think it's wicked awesome. I hope this is merely a jumping off point to exploring this approach to head safety.

Posted by Dougsf on August 16, 2012 at 2:18 PM

Also costs $600

Posted by farthard on August 16, 2012 at 2:48 PM

Neal Stephenson invented this in Snow Crash about a million years ago.

Posted by Some Hack on August 16, 2012 at 2:53 PM

@3

Falling due to clip less pedal failure is pretty much the only thing a helmets going to protect you from, so I should hope this one activates in those instances.

Posted by emor on August 16, 2012 at 3:33 PM

Wearable airbags have been in testing for the last several years in motorcycle racing. In the last year or so Dainese and some others have been selling them to the public. Motorcycle racing got the concept from equestrian competition. Or murder-strian, as I like to call it. Donor-pony riding. There ought to be a law.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on August 16, 2012 at 3:40 PM

Gyros are delicious.

Posted by legacy builder on August 16, 2012 at 5:25 PM

@9, I think you are underestimating the potential for gravitationally-challenged cyclists to fall over unaided for a wide variety of reasons.

Like me.

Posted by Fnarf