MIPS acquires tech company Fluid Inside, who claim their system protects agains rotational and linear forces

MIPS have stepped up the helmet safety wars another level by swallowing up the tech company Fluid Inside. They claim their technology can protect against linear and rotational forces with a layer of fluid that mimics cerebrospinal fluid, your body's natural protection.  

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Developed in Canada, Fluid Inside's low viscosity liquid is said to engage rotational forces instantaneously on any impact regardless of the unique combination of impact variables. It comes in the form of pods placed inside the helmet, that are just 3-4mm thick. The 'matrix' of pods inside the helmet are arranged to meet the needs of each sports-specific application. 

Fluid Inside say the pods make the helmet effectively float on your head on impact, acting like a reinforcement of the cerebrospinal fluid (CFS) inside your head to protect against both linear and rotational forces. 

MIPS, short for Multi-directional Impact Protection System, was developed to protect specifically against rotational forces, whereas they say most other helmets only protect against vertical impacts - but Fluid Inside is the first we've come across that claims to do both. 

As you can see from the results above Fluid Inside make some big claims, saying that in testing the impacts were 18% and 39% less severe for linear and rotational accelerations respectively. They also claim that in a test by the Neurotrauma Impact Science Lab, their Fluid technology was "the most reliable and responsive impact management system in all conditions we've tested".   

We're not too sure how the current MIPS tech and Fluid Inside tech will be incorporated into the same product, but will be checking back for further updates soon. In the meantime, you can visit the Fluid Inside website to find out more about their work and check out our bumper guide to MIPS here.