While all team sports can be rough, hockey poses a particularly high risk of brain injuries. A new high-tech helmet is designed to warn of such injuries, by detecting and reporting on knocks to its wearer’s head.
The helmet is being developed by Swiss startup Bearmind, which is affiliated with the EPFL research institute. Two former athletes, Mathieu Falbriard and Tom Bertrand, founded the company.
In its current form, the Bearmind helmet looks much like any other hockey helmet, except for the fact that it has a small oval module which fits into a receptacle in the back. That module contains an IMU (inertial measurement unit), pressure sensor, battery and Bluetooth module. When the helmet is subjected to any sudden impacts, the module transmits the impact data to an accompanying app on a rink-side coach’s smartphone.
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