Dolomiticert: innovative helmets and goggles thanks to the new Interreg
Together with the Interdisciplinary Department of Sports and Motor Sciences of the University of Salzburg and the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Padua, over the next three years the Longarone-based institute will work on a project titled “Development of innovative new helmet and goggles to increase safety/distribution when practicing sport”. It is co-financed by the European Union (ERDF co-financing) as part of the Italy-Austria Interreg IV Program.
This experiment, which met with the approval of the relevant offices, was prompted by the fact that skiers very rarely wear protective helmets. And this is also why statistics show a constant increase in the number of accidents related to skiing and other mountain sports. Many accidents are due to the lack of personal protection devices - helmets first and foremost.
Among those who do not wear helmets are also ski instructors, as shown in data provided by AMSI, the Italian Ski Instructors’ Association, SBSSV, the Salzburg Professional Ski & Snow Instructors’ Association, and OSSV, the Austrian Ski Instructors’ Association.
The three Associations boast a total of almost 30,000 members and the percentage of those who wear helmets is ludicrous. This is not due to negligence on the part of instructors, but to the characteristics of the device itself: it is bulky, heavy, non-ergonomic, irritating and unattractive.
The aim of the project is to devise an innovative helmet that is lightweight, smaller, interdisciplinary, ergonomic, and capable of housing technologically-advanced systems such as avalanche transceivers, biosensors or “walkie-talkie”-type communication. But the research will go even further: also being studied for use with the helmet are “active” ski goggles that will adapt quickly to weather conditions and have satellite identification systems that will locate the wearer in the event of an avalanche, disorientation or sudden indisposition.
It is obvious that the project led by Dolomiticert will give results that will make a real difference on the slopes: but researchers also aim to create devices that can be used by other disciplines in the name of 360° safety.
