The winner of the James Dyson Award 2016 has been announced with a folding, recyclable helmet called EcoHelmet taking the honours.
Isis Shiffer, a recent graduate from the Pratt Institute of Design in New York City, set out to design a helmet that could be used by bike share users.
Bike share programs are used by millions of people around the world. But bike share users rarely wear helmets. According to the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institute, more than 800 cyclists were killed on US roads in 2015. Shiffer sought to develop a solution for bike shares.
EcoHelmet uses a unique honeycomb configuration to protect the head from impact, and folds flat when not in use. A biodegradable coating makes it resistant to rain for up to three hours. The lightweight, durable design of EcoHelmet empowers cyclists to ride safely and confidently.
The cell structure of EcoHelmet distributes any impact evenly around the head as effectively as a traditional polystyrene helmet. Due to the radial nature of the cells, it will protect the user from a blow coming from any direction. The simplicity of EcoHelmet’s construction, coupled with its inexpensive materials, will keep the manufacturing costs low – meaning they can be sold for $5 at bike share stations.
“I was lucky enough to be studying at Royal College of Art and the Imperial College of London for a semester, and was granted access to Imperial’s crash lab,” says Isis. “They had a European standard helmet crash setup that allowed me to gather enough data on Ecohelmet’s proprietary honeycomb configuration to know it was viable and worth developing.”
As international winner of the James Dyson Award 2016, Isis will be awarded $45,000 to further develop her invention.
The Inspiration
Cycling is the healthiest and most ecologically sound way to get around cities. Around the world, bike share programs are giving commuters and tourists a convenient, inexpensive way to move from point A to point B. But bike share users very rarely wear helmets–no one wants to carry a helmet around all day, and rental helmets can be unsanitary or ill-fitting.
In busy cities, crashes do occur, and wearing a helmet can reduce the chance of injury or death by 85%. If cycling is going to become truly ubiquitous, riders need the option to have a spontaneous ride whenever they like, without fearing for their safety.
How It Works
EcoHelmet gives bike share users a helmet that can be purchased with the bike rental and recycled after the ride. Its flat folded state is ideal for vending machines and it requires no assembly to put on. Just place on the head, pull down the straps and clip. The naturally stretchy material conforms to most head sizes.
The unique cell structure distributes any impact evenly around the head as effectively as a traditional polystyrene helmet. Due to the radial nature of the cells, it will protect the user from a blow coming from any direction. A biodegradable coating makes it resistant to rain for up to three hours.
EcoHelmet is fully recyclable product. Ideally, a special disposal container would be made available at bike rental stations, allowing used EcoHelmets to be recycled into new ones with minimal waste. The material cost (recycled paper and biodegradable coating and adhesive) are so minimal that the individual units could be sold for under $5.
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Daniel King
Do u wanna buy a helmet, I kno of a gud one!!