High-tech helmet sensor knows when you crash and then calls for help

By Trevor Mogg Published September 19, 2012

Last week Anthony Margrave took his new motorbike out for a spin near his home in Yorkshire, England. But he didn’t come home.

His girlfriend raised the alarm and the emergency services went out looking for him, but after two long days of searching they failed to locate either Margrave or his bike.

Recommended Videos

Then, three days after going missing, a small amount of motorbike debris was found on a country road. After a thorough search of the nearby area, police discovered Margrave at the bottom of a 180cm-deep roadside ditch. Incredibly, the 40-year-old Brit was still alive, though badly injured. Unable to reach his phone due to his injuries, he had only been able to call out, but being in such a remote area, nobody heard him.

Margrave is currently recovering in hospital, surrounded by family and friends who’d been starting to wonder if they’d ever see him again.

This miracle story ties in nicely with news of the creation of a helmet-based crash sensor – something which Margrave may well consider getting, should he ever climb back on a bike.

Made by a company based in Oklahoma, the small ICEdot device, which attaches to any helmet, is capable of detecting an impact suffered by its wearer. Communicating with the ICEdot app on the user’s smartphone, a message is then sent out to a family member or friend informing them of the incident, together with GPS data pinpointing their location. Such a device would be ideal for cyclists, motorcyclists, horse riders, skiers….you get the idea.

A countdown clock starts upon impact, giving the user time to cancel sending the message should the incident not require an emergency response.

ICEdot partnered with Colorado-based SenseTech LLC to create the product. Dr. Tim Bauer of SenseTech built an early version of the sensor following a cycling accident where he banged his head. “ICEdot goes into action when an individual cannot,” he said.

The device is making its debut this week at the Interbike trade show in Las Vegas and is expected to cost around $200 when it hits the market next year.

[GearJunkie via Tecca]

Contributing Editor

Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

Topics

Emerging Tech

Emerging Tech

Anker just exposed a big problem with portable power stations

Appliance, Device, Electrical Device

When you're shopping for a portable power station, there's one number that's almost impossible to ignore: battery capacity. A 2 kWh battery should give you roughly 2 kWh of usable power, right? Unfortunately, things aren't quite that simple. Anker SOLIX has published new efficiency data for its S Series portable power stations, and it's putting the spotlight on something that doesn't get nearly as much attention as capacity: how much of the energy stored inside the battery actually makes it to your devices.

According to Anker, portable power stations are commonly advertised with efficiency figures measured under relatively heavy loads, where they can reach roughly 89% to 92% efficiency. But that's not necessarily how most people use one during an outage. Think about what you'd actually plug in. A Wi-Fi router might sip power continuously, a refrigerator switches its compressor on and off throughout the day, and a CPAP machine could run overnight. Together, those devices may draw just a fraction of what a large power station is capable of supplying. And that's where efficiency can start slipping.

Audio / Video

OpenAI’s first gadget sounds like a tiny expressive AI companion

The device will have a doughnut-shaped body, built-in cameras, and moving parts

OpenAI press image

For months, reports have suggested that OpenAI’s first hardware product would be a screen-free smart speaker designed to act more like an AI companion. We already knew it could understand its surroundings, be carried around the home, and proactively help users. A new Bloomberg report now gives us a clearer picture of what the device may actually look like.

As per the report, OpenAI’s first gadget will be shaped like a doughnut and measure about the same size as a hockey puck. You will be able to carry it between rooms or leave it nearby on whatever surface is convenient. The device is expected to be on the expensive side, as the company has pondered pricing it around $300 to $400. A release is currently planned for 2027.

Emerging Tech

Google Antigravity just built an AI translator that works without the internet

Electrical Device, Switch, Robot

Google has shown off a new AI project that could make language barriers a little less intimidating, and it doesn't need an internet connection to do it. The company has introduced the Gemma Translator, a compact prototype built in collaboration with Antigravity. Unlike most AI translation tools that rely on cloud processing, this device runs entirely offline using Gemma 4 E2B, Google's lightweight open model. Everything happens locally on the device, making it both portable and independent of an internet connection. The prototype is powered by a Raspberry Pi 5 and includes a microphone and speaker inside a custom 3D-printed enclosure, creating a self-contained translator you can carry almost anywhere.

AI translation, without the cloud