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Smart Hat designer puzzled by cyclists’ negative response
When we initially reported on the Smart Hat, the overwhelming response we got was that it must be some sort of joke. This has apparently been a common reaction and the cycle helmet’s Australian designer, Toby King, is rather puzzled by how cyclists have greeted his work. “I’m going ‘it’s a safety device – it's for your safety’.”
Speaking to SBS Cycling Central, King explained how his unique design had evolved.
“My thinking was, here’s something that will improve safety with the same mechanisms and devices of other road users. Brake lights, headlights, indicators. It’s a simple and intuitive system to use. And then the extension of that line of thinking was; if you’re going to put a power system in a helmet, there’s a lot of other things you can do which are interesting and useful. Ultrasonic proximity was one thing, someone gets warned when there’s somebody close to them.”
King is hoping that the Smart Hat could one day be available for A$200 (around £110) but an industrial designer has estimated the price to be at least ten times greater than that. They also pointed out that with all the various gizmos, the helmet would be extremely cumbersome to wear for any length of time. King disputes this and also appears unconcerned by a potentially high cost.
“I know people are willing to spend 10-15K on a bicycle. What’s the value of safety, or saving yourself from trauma to your head?
“I don’t think it will weigh too much either. Our heads and necks are designed to take quite a load anyway. We’ve got eight kilograms of weight in bone and brain already.
"It’s not going to be a major problem, but if it is, some of it can be put in other areas of the bicycle. And there’s not much weight in there anyway. There’s batteries, there’s an iPhone, and a display. It’s something you don’t really know until it’s been prototyped."
King describes overall reaction to the Smart hat as ‘mixed’.
“I’ve had the knee-jerk from cyclists, 'it’s horrible', 'we hate it'. But I’ve also had a lot of people saying this is a really interesting idea – you know – nobody has done a sophisticated safety helmet before, some have said, ‘where can I buy it’, others have phoned up saying they want to invest in it."
King admits that he doesn’t actually ride a bike himself – he “honestly prefers vehicles”. However, he says that people like him might be persuade to cycle if it were safer. He believes his design would help in this regard.
“It is a safety device. It makes other road users understand what cyclists are doing, it allows cyclists to understand what other road users are doing with proximity sensors and mirrors. It can only be a good thing. Which is why I’m a bit puzzled by the reaction from cyclists, when I’m going ‘it’s a safety device - it's for your safety’.”
King’s next step will be to take his design to the New South Wales government.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
Latest Comments
- froze 6 hours 3 min ago
Just my opinion, but sorry that bike is UGLY! I can't see that sort of price for a completed bike, not alone for just the frame and fork!...
- Boopop 6 hours 40 min ago
I find it deeply jarring and disappointing that Sir David agrees with these people not wanting a cycle lane. Whenever I watch one of his excellent...
- chrisonabike 6 hours 50 min ago
May need insurance, tax and a licence. No problem with the lights though.
- Simon E 7 hours 6 min ago
Yes, they look just like the Lezyne Zecto model. My club bought a couple of sets from the LBS for our midweek TTs so if someone turns up without...
- Hirsute 9 hours 37 min ago
If you can't see a %^$&ing large tractor what ^%$£"!*ing hope is there that you will see a cyclist ?...
- chrisonabike 9 hours 55 min ago
Well if you *can* interview the original riders at all surely they worked, at least?...
- David9694 10 hours 24 min ago
Live: Car plunges over wall and lands on beach rocks...
- biking59boomer 10 hours 30 min ago
Looks like yet another bike share service that's going to fold because of selfish idiots.
- brooksby 15 hours 37 min ago
And finally: I wonder how many of the "more than 3,000" signatures on that petition are actually locals, who live or work there (and are not just...
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65 comments
For commuting I like the idea of a brake light. Especially when taking the lane. If course , I'd prefer the light on my bike....
Are there self contained brake light units. maybe using a gyroscope ? I googled but nothing ...
make him wear it for a week in the rain
Remove the absurd no. plate, get a decent designer to redesign the shell - and there might be an interesting concept.
I hear the Canary Wharf Group and London First are lining up to invest in this...
I can't believe this isn't a joke. The 'designer' is a deluded barn pot!
Wow. And I suppose I'm supposed to be respectful and polite in my criticism of this device and its clueless inventor.
If the helmet had a heads-up display and I could call in drone strikes on some of the more boneheaded driving stunts I see, that would be interesting.
The helmet is that big...it must have room to carry his mind altering drugs in
Still hoping this is going to end in a Chris Morris style sting operation with a number of minor celebrities and politicians queuing up to demonstrate this wonderful creation.
"King rarely cycles himself in Sydney. He says it’s too dangerous, and that he “honestly prefers vehicles”, but said the device could be a way to encourage people like himself to feel safer on the road."
If he actually got off his can and cycled on the roads, he'd become immediately aware that his helmet idea is a load of balls.
I'm interested in a brake light now - but reviews I've seen so far are mixed. I think its a good idea for it to be based on the deceleration of the bike rather than a brake lever switch. (eg hitting an incline after cruising ). Now I think a good portable brake light/ rear light - reflector combo could get some sales.
It would have to be clearly visible in daylight of course.
But there are so many flashing rear lights that it would have to set itself apart - which I suspect means quite wide or long? Hmmm?
I'd like one! Brake lights are already available from aliexpress (with sensors that fit directly on your brakes) and I have considered them. Sometimes Prius and other hybrid cars can be on my shoulder before I hear them so a proximity sensor might save my life. I already have a 18650 LED light and sometimes a Gopro-clone or Ghost on my helmet and can vouch for the fact that I notice the weight little. I did mount a tablet with virtual reality racing (Ghostracer) and navigator (Google) on my bars but I found both too distracting.
Helmet front and rear lights are already common. A helmet with these built in should exist already (yes, e.g. "Urbanize Lazer"). Accelerometer brake light and proximity sensor connected warning (light/tone) would add safety. The "smart" phone rack and display should come one day.
But someone should tell the inventor the cyclists are so caught up in their image -- read the comments above -- that it will only be when the pro peleton starts wearing them that cyclists will follow. A cheap plastic fairing would improve bicycle speeds but hardly anyone uses them (while paying $4000 for an aerodynamic S-Works Venge) because the pros do not.
The most disappointing thing about this story for me is this...
When I first read about this I thought "Superb! The Great Australian Larrikin is alive and well." I really thought it was a windup, even the fact that it was pitched straight to councillors just helped convince me. I kept waiting for the grand reveal on some Australian Piss-take programme saying "Look at the tossers we have on our councils."
Sadly I fear that I may have been wrong all the time. The Great Australian Larrikin is dead!
what a tosser.
If I had to wear one of those awful helmets, I'd probably give up cycling.
"Mr King told road.cc that he's just trying to improve cyclist safety. Smart Hat, he said, is for responsible cyclists who want to be part of the road user community."
Sounds like Mr King has had a 'king useless idea to suppress cycling.
It's hard to be certain about the real motive behind this product. Either it's a deliberate attempt to use 'safety' to camouflage and justify the oppression of cycling, or it's crap design through genuine incompetence.
This helmet is effectively victim-blaming physically manifested in a product design. While using 'safety' as the excuse.
It has all the signs of being designed by someone who doesn't cycle on the road and thinks they know better than cyclists.
'Thinking one knows better' is not the same as actually 'knowing better'. See Dunning-Kruger Effect for details.
http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/confident-idiots-92793/
Registration plates were popular with the Nazis, the Third Reich much preferred cars to bicycles, they invented the autobahn, and introduced legislation to discourage cycling. Third Reich number plate on bicycle. http://is.gd/2KbEqj
For more info, see: http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/hitler/
The helmet is large, largely due to all the utterly unnecessary crap built-in. Unlike motorists, cyclists are only too aware of carrying excess and unnecessary mass.
Unnecessary crap includes: Visor, wiper blades which entails increased battery capacity switch and motor. - All quite unnecessary, something to break & wear-out.
In-helmet display & processor.
As helmeted-head size increases, the probability of impact would increase, substantially increasing the likelihood of additional brain and neck injuries, that would not have occurred had the helmet not been worn. Does it feature a slip-plane to eliminate rotational injuries?
What it really needs is to be able to: Suppress mobile phone use; stop drivers driving dangerously and stops drivers coming within ten feet.
[motor-vehicle proximity detector controlling a portable EMP generator]
Unless and until that's true, it's of absolutely no interest, even if it were given-away free.
As it is, I wouldn't wear one even if I were paid to do so. Even on a normal, solo bicycle.
PS, It's unsuitable for most recumbents too. (due to inclined seat and head position)
The cynic in me looks forward to the second version... which is basically a normal helmet with a number plate holder attached to the back.
This will be well received and before you know it, the number plate 'challenge' will have been addressed.
I'm actually really confused. Is this a joke or not??
Is it April 1
Does he own a mirror?
There are some using accelerometers I think
Well done Recumbenteer you have now invoked Godwin's Law so this thread is now closed
that's part of the brilliance. It's so ridiculous yet some people seem to be taking it seriously that it's hard to work out where it's going.
I'm putting my money on this being a hoax. The 'inventor's' 3d modelling and visualisation skills (if he did it himself) are reasonably competent so he may well have some background in industrial design. If this is the case then one of the first things he would have done is make a physical prototype out of cardboard or foam and tried it out, whereupon you'd see instantly that it was patently lethal. He hasn't done so and has gone straight to some 3D visuals which are great for selling a half baked idea to the gullible because they make it look like a finished product.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/cycle-bike-indicator-brake-light/dp/B0012S82ZY
http://www.lucidbrake.com/
http://www.gizmag.com/velodroom-smart-bike-tail-light/27937/
http://www.ebay.com/bhp/bicycle-brake-light
I'd rather buy one from a brand name like cateye, smart-phones motion detectors are likely tiny and cheap.
I think some of the German lights have a brake-light function, at least for dynamo lights. So called bicycle "dynamos" are really magnetos and produce AC, so it is not hard at all to monitor the speed of the wheel spin, and to do something different when it spins more slowly.
Construction quality and design that is renowned and loved the world over. That Merc's a beauty.
Anyway, it reminded me of this fella:
wordy.jpg
Huh.
looks like he has designed it so his display unit blocks the top of the rider's vision of the road.
I can't imagine that is suitable for anything other than sit up and beg bikes.
Wonder how many of those sort of riders are going to be spending around 1,000 on a helmet?
has the guy designed any other products? if so, i'd love to see them.
The poor guy wakes up every morning to find it is April the 1st.
He must be related to Clive Sinclair and the infamous Sinclair C5...Fail!
The hat looks like an upside down c5 with no wheels
Sinclairs not so much a fail as the engines were widely used and copied, cant see this being copied much though....
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