Motorcycling, cycling, skiing, rollerblading, rafting, snowboarding, horse riding: what do all these sports have in common? Safety! A protective helmet is mandatory to assault the summits, roads or slopes... But what a clutter! After five years of development, a young engineer invents a helmet that is both resistant and foldable, inspired by nature: the protective scales of the Pangolin. Here is the helmet of tomorrow, the Alpha helmet!
The Pangolin is a small insectivorous mammal living in tropical and equatorial regions of Africa and Southeast Asia, with an elongated body largely covered with scales. As soon as it feels in danger, it curls up into a ball and protects itself within seconds with its scales that move in relation to each other.
This is exactly what the Alpha helmet, developed by Guillaume Vétier who created the Golem Innovation structure in Bayonne and gathered around him a team of five people, engineers, designers, who believed in his project.
Five years of R&D
The helmet, weighing just 500 grams, is equipped with a photochromic, shockproof visor (a corrective lens that is tinted according to the amount of ultraviolet rays to which it is exposed). and scratch-resistant and the high-strength shell consists of of interlocking segments, housed in a collar on the shoulders, which simply need to be pulled forward to unfold and lock into position in two seconds, but above all, internal shock protection provided by a honeycomb structure, again inspired by nature: the bees and their hives. A structure that makes it possible to fold the helmet and achieve amazing results in terms of protection against shocks and serious injuries that can be created on the brain.
The Alpha stands out from all other helmets thanks to its design based on a unique retractable technology: the era of bulky helmets is over and the incredibly easy to use helmets with increased safety are now a thing of the past.
When the Alpha is in the folded position, strapped around the neck and placed on the shoulders, an anti-throttling safety system has been provided.
Of course, it's not the neck or throat that supports the helmet in the folded position, it's actually the shoulders.
If the helmet is pulled from the back, when the pressure becomes too much, the neck strap will automatically release to ensure your safety.
In the future, the Alpha helmet will not only have a head-up display, but also intelligent functions such as the display and measurement of heart rate, speed, altimetry, temperature and even an integrated GPS navigation system. And a reflection on an ultra-connected V2 is already underway.
Eventually, the Alpha helmet will be available in special versions to adapt to motor sports (motorcycle, jet-ski...), industry (construction, mining, ...), law enforcement and military.
For the time being, Alpha is currently present on the participative launch platform Kickstarter in order to raise the necessary funds for its commercialization planned for September 2017 for a maximum price of about 300 €.
The Alpha has already been awarded the Innovation Prize by Bask'Invest (Estia, CCI Basque Country and Ernst & Young), declaring Golem Innovation as a startup ''Pépite du Sud-Ouest''.
