2023 4Rev Awards Nomination – Product Design of the Year – EVERYTHING CONNECTED

Innovation Name The Armadillo Helmet

Innovation Website* https://numorpho.org/intention/

Please describe the product.* Give us your written elevator pitch. The Armadillo Helmet is a collapsible, 3D printed helmet that revolutionizes the way people ship, store, and carry helmets.

When shipping, a user can fit 6 collapsed armadillo helmets in the same box it would take to package a single traditional helmet. Since it is designed using parametric modeling, it can be customized to any head profile by simple scanning.

With the same safety guarantee as other helmets on the market at a fraction of the form factor, the Armadillo Helmet is set to revolutionize helmets of all shapes and sizes.

The folding helmet is our testament to Additive Manufacturing that personifies our “Born not Built” philosophy to create transformational products and services.

What problem does this product design address?*

The main problem with traditional helmets is the footprint each helmet utilizes. Whether it’s for bicyclists, construction workers, military personnel, fire fighters, or even rock climbers, they all suffer from the same bulky form factor of the traditional helmet.

The issue of size is not solely an end user problem, however. When looking mid-stream into the manufacturing process, you can fit 20 armadillo helmets into packing pallets in the same space as 1 traditional helmet coming from raw manufacturing. This means that less of your production floor, storage, and truck space are taken up by big bulky stacks of helmets. This allows you to more efficiently maximize every step of the helmet’s journey from raw material to a final packaged good.

How does this design deliver a simple, intuitive, or delightful user experience?*

Have you ever unfolded a folding chair? Well, this is even easier than that. With its compact size, smooth folding action, and satisfying “chunk” when fully expanded, the Armadillo Helmet is simple, intuitive, and a pleasure to interact with.

All the user has to do is pull the collapsed Armadillo Helmet out of their bag, slide it to its fully open position, pop it on their head, attach the chin strap, and they’re done. Safe, easy, and secure in a fraction the size of a traditional helmet.

This is illustrated in the video: https://numorpho.org/2023/02/11/20230210-another-unscripted-helmet-attestment/

How does this design improve the client or manufacturer’s profitability, brand reputation, employee morale, etc.?*

Using 3D printing, parametric modeling, generative design and design for manufacturability, we created a product that benefits both the end consumer as well as the product producers and logistics companies shipping the products.

The benefits of the Armadillo Helmet’s small form factor can be found in every part of a manufacturer’s production journey.

To begin with and starting from the customer’s perspective, since the helmet is 3D printed, it is completely customizable and scalable to any need.
An added benefit of 3D printing the helmets is that they can be easily manufactured anywhere. This makes it ideal for military and natural disaster relief situations across the globe where helmets can be produced immediately on site in any numbers they may need.

The Armadillo Helmet is a cutting-edge design using the latest technology and manufacturing processes and as such, reflects very positively for any brand or person that wants to exist at the cutting edge. Beyond the collapsibility of the helmet, the integrated visor and sleek aesthetic of the helmet gives users and sellers alike an air of futurism.

How does this design benefit the greater good? Please consider its effects on society, the environment, culture, the economy, etc.*

Though Numorpho does not consider itself a “products company” we do think it’s important, if not necessary, for our clients to see how effective our advanced engineering and product creation models truly are. As such, we chose to make a helmet that would revolutionize the way people interact with this important piece of safety equipment.

Helmets provide safety and security to millions of people all over the world every day. Regardless of the job or activity someone may be doing, we want to make it as logistically simple as possible to get a helmet on that person’s head. Anyone that has held or worn our Armadillo Helmet will tell you, there is no other helmet like it and how easy it is to wear and collapse. Our hope is that this intuitive nature, small size, and ease of storage, means we will be able to protect more people across the world from cranial injury.

For the military, we are collaborating with our peers from the mHUB ecosystem (NoMo Diagnostics and HabitAware) to embed sensors in the helmet and other body parts to monitor warfighter well-being both in the front lines as well as after when they integrate into back into society as veterans.

Please provide any supporting visual materials for the product.

ELEMENTS OF DESIGN

NUMO_HeadForm_Shapes