Dragon Helmet: Open-source collaboration that aims to create a high tech helmet
dragon.computer
dragon.computer
The helmet saved my life, quite probably. It was so effective that Buell wanted it back to study it. Other than smashing my hands and one ulna, I was just a bit battered and bruised but the helmet was a wreck. The bike was a complete loss. There were pics online, they probably still are.
Anyhow, unless you're going to end up with a heavy over-sized monstrosity, the electronics are going to take up space in the padding. I may be biased, but I'm kind of partial to that padding.
By the way, get certified helmets. Inspect your helmet for damage on a regular basis. Replace damaged parts. Replace any helmet that has been involved in an accident involving any force to the helmet.
Of all those, a certified helmet seems to be the more pressing issue. I see many people wearing novelty helmets that are just as likely to cause additional injury as they are to prevent injury.
Ride safe.
The picture looks like a motorcycle helmet and, if it's not, that may be even worse. People will think it is a protective helmet and wear it as such. This is a problem already, as they sell novelty helmets that don't meet DOT specs.
DOT spec'ed helmets have a sticker on the back. I absolutely will not ride without one. I also insist on wearing one while snowmobiling, unless I'm just moving it into the garage or something.
It will of course need to include climate control systems[0] for the summer, and a voice modulator[1] would be nice too.
I don't think it is going to be a big seller, but uh... good luck to them?
You're correct: https://github.com/DragonComputer/dragon.computer/issues/1
I feel like you could add lightweight electronics to the outside of the padding (and then reshape the shell to cover it elegantly rather than just a protruding box) without adding too much weight or bulk.
I'm really confused as to what the target audience is here, though. It looks like a motorcycle helmet, but the text kinda sounds like they want this to be the next stage of wearable computing, like powered-up smart glasses. I'm hard-pressed to imagine even the biggest tech nerds walking around the office wearing a full helmet.
Also the menu in the upper right implies that a full suit of armor with modular components is being planned, although all the buttons just go to the helmet page. I can't imagine what that's about.
My last bike was a BMW, my new one a Ducati. Helmets from the previous might not work with the new one. I currently own only one bike but I kind of want something big, fat, and noisy. Would it work with that, or would I need to add to my already absurd collection of helmets?
I love the idea but the practicality and safety would be my major concerns. If this were a site where we posted pics, I'd probably go get you a picture. I already have about 20 helmets (see above reply to sibling comment), which isn't all that abnormal in my geographic location.
Hell, if you count bicycle helmets, I have even more. No, no I didn't expect this to be an outcome of moving here.
If they had such a thing as a thin flexible display, that you could just wrap over or in your visor and it was able to receive video. Where does the camera go? Not sure.
Holograms, just have a dashboard thing show a floating display, but why your physical speedometer is right there already.
It means I'm interested in more flexible tech. When a crash happens, and it will, I'd not like extra stuff poking into me. Smaller and more flexible components are something I sometimes look into but only the miniaturization seems to be making it to market.
I'd absolutely love something like an in-helmet GPS system, display of vehicle functions, and could even see some augmented reality in this space. It is slow coming but this helmet, in your link, looks promising. I'll do some more reading. I'd not seen that one before. Thanks!
I will have to see its ratings, reviews, and certifictions. Ever since my accident, I've been much more cautious about helmet purchases. I was only going about 45 MPH when I was hit. The car driver was passing right after a blind corner and didn't see me.
To put things in perspective, it is quite common to take a snowmobile into the village here. The grocery store has snowmobile parking. There's an extensive trail system that usually opens up for ATVs when the snow clears. So, I have quite a few instances where a helmet is something I consider essential.
OMG - where do you live? In the words of Liz Lemmon, I want to go to there.
You'd not be the first person from the Internet to come visit me. It's too addictive/beautiful for me to get into additional details. Doing so tends to derail threads. If you are really curious, uninvolved@outlook.com is a fine way to reach me.
https://amzn.com/dp/B01MU7CSTX
HN says the display is useless "in action":
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12169402 (Jul 2016)
>manarth: A true HUD doesn't need you to look away, or refocus your eyes. The Recon screen's position (near the bottom of the goggles) means you have to almost go cross-eyed to read it
Their handbook says it should only be looked at when stationary
I forget the company but one of them was going to do something like the gridiron football helmets. They were going to have a g-force indicator in them to indicate damage and concussion potential. I'm not sure what became of it.
The shock indicators can possibly help determine if a hit was hard enough to suspect a concussion, but diagnosis of a concussion is based on symptoms.
* It's unlikely to be a motorcycle helmet because sharp embedded electronics inside a helmet is a recipe for head injury
* It might be useful on a bicycle (for couriers, etc), but having windows popping up while cycling is a pretty bad idea
* It might be useful for walking around (but probably not because it would look stupid)
> Dragonfire is the open source virtual assistant project for Ubuntu based Linux distributions. She will serve to the user of the helmet as a command and control interface so that you will be even able to order physical operations just by your voice commands and your eye movements.
but yes, they could be a lot clearer...
On the other hand, the page looks to be a work in progress. The armour links go nowhere, and the armour repository has only one directory (though it seems like the intent is to have many).
It seems like they're building an opensource, cloudless Jarvis. I must say I do like the cloudless aspect.
As for the rest of the armour links... I never understood the point of submitting something to HN that was barely more than a landing page. Just seems a bit misjudged, is all.
That said, it does look cool and I'm all for some wearable tech, if only for bad ideas that lead to good ones.
> From air pollution to high demand on smart wearable technologies there are many emerging problems for people who live in crowded cities. Very soon we will need to cover our nostrils and mouths with a filter to protect our health against inevitable air pollution.
It's a wearable computer placed on your head, under the assumption that you'll want to wear full head-cover anyway.
See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean_Air_Act_(United_States) as a counterexample.