A Helmet That Detects Hard Hits

Riddell is equipping football helmets with technology to identify when a blow could cause a serious injury.

There is a growing awareness that football players, from the high-school to the professional level, can suffer permanent brain damage from repeated concussions, even relatively minor ones. The impact of these blows often causes trauma to the brain that goes undetected by athletes, coaches, and medical personnel: athletes tend not to report potential injuries, while football staff often miss the signs of a concussion. Playing through such injuries puts an athlete in danger of sustaining further, more severe brain damage.

Now Riddell, a sporting-equipment manufacturer based in Rosemount, IL, is equipping its new line of helmets with sensors that measure the magnitude, location, and direction of a hit. The collected data can then be uploaded to a user's computer and analyzed with a Web-based application. The helmet system will be sold to individual consumers for the first time this fall.

http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/19356/?a=f