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Home / News / Inflatable bike helmet saves brains, offends eyes

Inflatable bike helmet saves brains, offends eyes

Would you don this air-filled noggin protector? It comes in a variety of colours, if that helps

If your regular bike helmet is a little worse for wear after one too many failed wheelie attempts (you show off you) then you might be interested in this inflatable alternative to protect your precious grey matter.

Finally on sale after seven years in development, the Hövding invisible helmet resembles a scarf in its normal un-inflated state – unsurprising, perhaps, given that it was designed by a pair of women from the Faculty of Engineering at Sweden’s Lund University who “wouldn’t be seen dead” in a regular bike helmet.

While we personally can’t vouch for its style (we know very little about what’s ‘in’, right now) we can tell you that it works with a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes to detect when something goes amiss, before pumping up the helmet with helium for an ultra-quick, skull-saving inflation.

The Hövding helmet is also powered by a micro USB-chargeable battery, putting it on top of our list of gadgets that should definitely never run out of juice, ever.

If you fancy sticking your fingers up at convention then the Hövding invisible helmet can be snapped up in two sizes for a wallet-smashing US$600, with an extra US$75 for different coloured shells.

[Hovding via Gizmodo]

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Profile image of Dan Grabham Dan Grabham Editor-in-Chief

About

Dan is Editor-in-chief of Stuff, working across the magazine and the Stuff.tv website.  Our Editor-in-Chief is a regular at tech shows such as CES in Las Vegas, IFA in Berlin and Mobile World Congress in Barcelona as well as at other launches and events. He has been a CES Innovation Awards judge. Dan is completely platform agnostic and very at home using and writing about Windows, macOS, Android and iOS/iPadOS plus lots and lots of gadgets including audio and smart home gear, laptops and smartphones. He's also been interviewed and quoted in a wide variety of places including The Sun, BBC World Service, BBC News Online, BBC Radio 5Live, BBC Radio 4, Sky News Radio and BBC Local Radio.

Areas of expertise

Computing, mobile, audio, smart home

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