Hi cycling friends!
I am here to talk to you about something you are very aware of: helmet’s safety .
I am pretty sure that most of you are satisfied with your helmet, but did you notice the gap between
your head and the helmet? This gap might be harmful in case of an accident because your head
will gain inertia before hitting the inside of the helmet. This inertia has proven to significantly
increase head injuries during impact. Gaps are also responsible for poor helmet fit and may lead to
discomfort for some cyclists.
Why is there a gap? Because most of the helmet manufacturers only provide one or two sizes for the
whole population. Such a technique does not cover the variability of head shapes within the cyclist
community. The pads you find inside a helmet are here to fill the gapsand make you think that the
helmet fits.
Now you may wonder why I am telling you that. First, I am not sponsored by any helmet or security
equipment brand. I am currently working at RMIT University on a PhD research program on how to
improve helmet fitting. The aim of the team (I am an assistant, not the PhD researcher) is to create
an algorithm able to, after scanning your head, create a helmet that follow your head perfectly,
using new additive manufacturing technologies.
We are in the phase where we need to create an accurate database of head shapes and sizes. In
order to do that we are travelling all around Melbourne to meet cyclists in shops and events and to
scan them with a small 3D white light scanner (not lasers). It takes us less than 10 minutes to do 4
scans (one with just your head, three others with helmets). You will be given a subject number and
it willnot be possible to identify you from the scans. Moreover we can give you the 3D model of your
head once we have done the post-processing. This is what it looks like:
[IMG]cyclingforums.com700Open ↗[/IMG]
We are also welcoming people at RMIT University Bundoora east campus to participate in our
research. If you are willing to come to us for the study, we can 3D print a scaled model of your head
as a token of appreciation (gift).
Anyway we will try to let you know every time we go out to scan so if you have 10 minutes to help us
it would be awesome!
Also if you have any ideas where we can go and find many peoples willing to help us to improve
helmet safety and comfort please tell us.
Do not hesitate to ask any question you may have about the research, the technology used, the
team, anything !
You can join us at :
[email hidden] (PhD researcher)
[email hidden] (Me)
Cheers!