Helmets ready for pick up at Aisle 7.
Here is our complete press release at Numorpho Cybernetic Systems (NUMO) for prototype done for the folding helmet showcases how we are using data engineering as the thread that connects people, process and technology.
Starting with a new methodology for product design, development and the management of its information, utilizing digital and simulation technologies and using adaptive engineering and connectivity, we have achieved in creating a compelling first product for the mobility market.
Our additively manufactured helmets are fully customizable to a person’s head shape, foldable to a small form factor (helps in shipping & transportation, warehousing and general use) and safe. Some of the variants will be embedded in Kevlar/Carbon fiber using Markforged ‘s unique continuous fiber reinforcement to make them impact resistant.
We are in the process of conducting digital simulations and physical tests, will have other folding types as well. Crash and Impact testing are key to us achieving compliance. We are doing it both from a CAE simulation perspective with Wurth now and with Fastway Engineering in the future, and also physical tests that involve dropping helmets and other tests based on procedures defined by different organizations to achieve certification.
In my prior life I used to help with crash testing at Ford Motor Company. We used to outfit them with realistic dummies (sometimes even cadavers, but don’t tell anyone) retrofitted with sensors to monitor the g-forces and other characteristics during the crash. Fitting sensors to dummies was very complicated and we had to ensure that everything was in place and working.
Since we are building smart helmets that are already going to be outfitted with such monitoring sensors using Arduino’s Nicla family – Vision, Sense ME, Voice and Portenta our plan is to do testing with the sensors active to monitor what happens to the helmet during the test. This will be a first for the industry where we are actually using the complete composition of the product to monitor testing results.
As we progress with this and our other solutions, we will be Utilizing our Digital Twine reference architecture to have an end to end representation of all artifacts in the value chain.
In software we typically talk about A/B testing to gauge customer reactions from an interface perspective. This is Test C (for Crash) and we need some testers….
These helmets are being formulated for multiple different use cases – military, industrial, construction first responder recreation and home well care – in this case to not only detect fall conditions and send alerts but also to manage gait and balance functions.
We are embedding them with Arduino Nicla sensors to make them smart. We call our provisioning CONNECT-DETECT-PROTECT and based on the use cases appropriate functions will be available. The intent of the prototype was to enable it to be foldable and additively manufactured. For the military we are additionally reinforcing it using KEVLAR.
Thank you, Tyler Grudowski for making this happen. Also thank you to everyone at mHUB – members and staff for supporting us on this adventure thus far. I would also like to thank our advisors, Scott McGowan in particular and our mentors for helping us achieve this milestone. Thank you also to MxD where we stared this exciting journey and to @Richard Daley Center for Advanced Manufacturing for helping validate our initial designs.
Thank you also, Würth Additive Group and M. Holland 3D Printing for helping us with Teton simulations and small batch manufacturing to validate our progression to design for manufacturing.
This is just the beginning. Stay tuned as we add smartness to it by embedding it with Arduino Nicla sensors and build out the entire data fabric for different use cases ranging from the military, factory floor, construction, commuting, recreation, first responders and even wellbeing in nursing homes.
Future versions of such BOM renderings will be done using AR/VR with dynamic tagging of parts and measures utilizing our Linked Solutioning partnership model that will enable us to utilize best of breed solutions to effect the outcome.
NI+IN UCHIL Founder, CEO & Technical Evangelist
nitin.uchil@numorpho.com
One response to “20230618 – Helmet Prototype Done, Check”
The helmet not only protects the most vulnerable and most important human organ if there is such a ranking in nature, The organ is to be protected in all risky situations (sports. contact sports excluded at this time for good reason not to start any controversy).
Skiing, biking, skateboarding, skydiving, space travel, soon to emerge as a protective device in boxing, cricket, and of course, nursing homes, memory care units, children who engage in head banging, and construction workers (hard hat), heavy equipment operators, laborers working on tall buildings, window cleaners, scaffolding climbers, roofers, oil field workers, race car drivers, firefighters and first responders in disasters, policemen, and of course motorcycle riders.
These are all high-risk takers. Their caregivers, employers, control room staff, loved ones can have the opportunity to monitor risks in real time to respond to traumatic head injuries (traumatic brain injuries – TBIs), and respond to these sentinel events promptly. The connectedness obviates or supplements the subjects’ communicating with the rescue team. Their location can be pinpointed on GPS with an accuracy of 10X10 feet area using the three-word (What 3 Words) location system. Adding one number will identify their height from the ground level. Such measures will provide an overall security and protection.
This will be a demonstration project for the tenets: Connect, Detect, and Protect. Numorpho Cybernetic System will illustrate the importance of “everything connected” in Industry 4.0. The armed forces can have their own system of monitoring users in all levels of risks, protecting those in the harm’s way installing separate confidential cybernetic system modeled after that of NUMO.