Optimization of a Soft Robotic Bladder Array for Dissipating High Impact Loads: an Initial Study in Designing a Smart Helmet

Abstract

Traumatic Brain Injury is a major risk in sports, work, and recreation. This paper presents initial design and optimization of a Smart Helmet aimed at mitigating impact accelerations. The helmet uses arrays of controllable pneumatic bladders arranged around the helmet shell to dissipate impact forces. Bladders are configured in arrays in the different regions of the helmet. Each bladder region includes at least one bladder with embedded sensing and control, capable of controlling that region. Nonlinear models of the bladders and arrays are developed and combined with a simplified head and neck model to simulate loading of the lateral segments of the helmet. These simulations are then applied to a parametric study to evaluate the ability of different individual bladder parameters, bladder region configurations, and control schemes to dissipate impact forces. A prototype helmet is then evaluated on an impact testbed to verify the effectiveness of different helmet configurations. Baseline results from a bare head and using a state-of-the-art helmet are provided for comparison.