That’s just the beginning, according to Larcher. “It can endeavor to provide you with something that’s coming up on a realistic route ahead, not something that’s on a parallel road or on a road that’s disjunct from your current graph network,” Tom Larcher, Forcite’s senior development manager, said. Interestingly, those in-helmet alerts work even if the rider isn’t actively navigating. The Forcite app provides navigation and gives warnings of debris, crashes and even police, which are communicated to the rider via voice prompts and that strip of LEDs. Developers are reworking the app to use Mapbox (said to offer “a smoother, more polished experience” according to a Forcite rep). Most of the MK1S’s functionality is driven by the Forcite app, which for now draws its data from Here Technologies. “So, we actually went around to a lot of manufacturers asking them if they wanted to build one, and all of them were, like, ‘No, we’re very happy with the margins that we make on motorcycle helmets,'” he said. That compares to about $600 to $800 for a top-shelf helmet made by leading manufacturers like Shoei and Arai - manufacturers that Boyadgis and co tried to partner with. The upfront cost, however, is significant.Ī new Forcite MK1S costs $1,099 in the United States. This could reduce costs for some in the long-term. Should a helmet be damaged in a crash or otherwise, the electronics can be ported over to a replacement. This design not only ensures the maximum possible safety and performance in various international helmet certifications, but it also allows an element of reuse. While the electronics are within the shell of the helmet, including a rechargeable, ceramic battery, they do not compromise the crucial foam that actually protects the rider’s head. For now, that’s the only way to give the helmet commands while on the bike. A separate, wireless controller mounts to the handlebars of the bike and allows the rider to toggle the camera, phone and navigation with a thumb press. It can also be manually toggled for highlights, which are stored on a microSD card. That 1080p camera is built into the chin and can be used to automatically record incidents. A quick blink of red means the camera is activated. An inward sweep of orange means an accident ahead. A green sweep from left to right means to make a right turn, for example. These glow upward, providing simple visual cues to the rider, all driven by the smartphone app. What’s novel in the MK1S is a row of RGB LEDs inside the helmet above the chin bar. Many manufacturers now sell helmets with integrated Bluetooth functionality. This means that riders can take calls, listen to music or get navigation instructions provided to the helmet wirelessly from the phone. Nuts and boltsĪt its simplest, the MK1S is a helmet with an integrated Bluetooth audio connection, including speakers positioned over the ears. The Forcite team ultimately nixed early ideas of including an augmented reality display of the sort found in the Skully AR-1. A moment’s distraction can be fatal, and so the helmet’s UI had to be minimal. Motorcycling requires far more concentration than driving a car. And then this new layout, which was, like, how do they receive information in an effective way?” So, you know, how they use the dash cameras, the things they don’t like about how they use com-sets, how they use audio. “We got those riders together and started talking about the technology which they use. “We put together a group of 8,000 riders, an online test pilot club - it was on a Facebook page,” Boyadgis said. Keep everything within the shell of the helmet, and that force is reduced.įorcite’s in-house team started iterating on design ideas but soon turned to the wisdom of the crowd. In a crash, more rotational velocity on a helmet can mean greater forces transferred to the brain within. “These things increase the rotational velocity of the helmet.” “Everyone started to use these action cameras on the front of their helmet, com-sets on the side of their helmet,” Boyadgis said.
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