The idea of the "smart helmet," packed with cutting edge technology while also keeping your skull intact, just keeps coming back. The latest company to try breaking into this field is Intelligent Cranium Helmets (ICH), which is working on a series of helmets with modular tech that you can add or replace as you want or need to.
The iC-R helmet receives a lot of the same features other similar smart helmets have, including the Skully AR-1 (or not). Its crowning achievement is a pair of rear cameras that give the wearer a 240-degree view behind them on the integrated heads-up display. Combined with the 120-degree view out the front, this eliminates all blind spots from around the rider. In case that's not enough, the helmet also includes proximity sensors that warn you when other vehicles are getting too close for comfort.
Another one of the iC-R's unique features is voice control. Rather than a remote hand control like the Nuviz heads-up display, specific phrases activate specific functions within the helmet. Simply speaking "Record my ride" will activate the forward-facing camera mounted on top of the helmet for all your motovlogging needs. Other commands include "play music" and "call emergency," the latter of which could be extremely useful if you crash and find yourself incapacitated. This video with CEO Ambrose Dodson runs through many of the high-tech features of the iC-Rs+, the top-of-the-line model, as it currently stands in development mode.
It's worth noting that the iC-R has not neglected traditional safety measures, either. By the time it is available to the public, ICH is aiming for DOT, Snell, and ECE certifications. Comfort has not been neglected, either. The iC-R has five vents to help you stay cool, three on top and two on the sides. This is more ventilation than most traditional helmets offer. Other features like streaming music and Bluetooth mesh communication with other riders are also standard equipment.
The issue we have seen with projects like this in the past is that either they disappear without a trace like Nuviz, or exist only as what software developers call "vaporware," never coming out with the actual product that customers already paid for, like Skully. At first glance, ICH could appear to be following in their footsteps.
Perhaps because of that, ICH is clear on its Indiegogo page that it is not a brand new company, that they have recruited reputable people, and they will not steal your money. "If we don't raise enough funds to proceed, then all funds raised will be returned to our backers, without question," it says in bold underlined print. Indeed, the video demonstrates that the technology ICH is betting on actually works. Here's hoping it meets its fundraising goal so we can see the iC-R in action.
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