Bumpair
An inflatable bike helmet: permanent protection that folds away into your bag.
Road Safety Innovation Prize 2022
Create cyclist protection that is more practical and easier to stow than a conventional helmet.
The project
Bumpair imagined an inflatable helmet for urban commuting. The starting point: the bulk of conventional helmets, one of the main reasons they are not worn enough.
The goal: the protection level of a conventional helmet, in an object that is very compact once folded.
The brief
Unlike existing airbag-type solutions, this is permanent protection, not a device triggered on impact.
Bumpair asked SME whether the idea could become reality. The challenge was tough; it was met.
The challenges
- Study the standard for conventional helmets and check that no parameter was an insurmountable barrier.
- Achieve a shape that fits the skull: an inflatable structure that is thin yet covers a large area, which is complex.
- Solutions that scale industrially, for a production cost comparable to that of a conventional helmet.
Solutions and results
The standards study revealed constraints on the design and on the internal pressure to be used; the solution was designed accordingly.
The design study was carried out with Romain Cuvellier, industrial designer and professor at ENSCI, to broaden the search for solutions and adapt them to the constraints of inflatable technology.
Manufacturing drawings and prototypes took cost into account: a solution that meets the specification and is optimized for industrialization.
In pictures
Folded, the helmet fits in your hand 
Road Safety Innovation Prize 2022
Images: Bumpair.