Dutch designer Wouter Walmink had never even considered wearing, let alone designing, a helmet in the cycle-centric Netherlands; but a move to the busier streets of Melbourne, Australia changed all that. As a researcher at RMIT University, Walmink began to experiment with helmets fitted with LEDs and the result is the prototype LumaHelm fitted with over 100 tiny lights, the flow and pattern of which can be controlled by built-in gyroscopic sensors. Extending the applications the helmet has already been tested to become a visual representation of the wearer’s heart rate, which the designer hopes might help to remind car drivers and other road users that beneath the device sits a flesh and bones rider. Perhaps more practically a tilt to the left or right acts as an indicator, whilst a gentle backwards tip becomes an effective break light. Cyclo is keen to see where this might go and we always love it when a thing of perfect function is wrapped up in such beauty and originality. Please send us one Wouter…
