The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the ability to manufacture customized non-stigmatizing, attractive headgear containing advanced materials to provide protection in older adults from head injury as a result from a fall. Injury from falls is a severe and growing problem with the personal consequence of potential severe injury and economic consequences to individuals, families and the healthcare system. Initially targeted to older adults, this product can be used by persons who seek to stay active without the fear of injury from falling. The commercial product is an aesthetic design that relies on custom fit eliminating unsightly chinstraps typically found in impact resistant helmets. Manufacturing success will lead to development of other protective devices such as hip protectors and then for other susceptible body parts (wrists/elbows). Commercial success will be sales to individuals, active retirement communities, nursing homes and hospitals. Further success can be defined by the ability to license the technology and manufacturing process to leaders in other industries such as active sports including football, hockey, skiing and extreme sports. With this STTR, the manufacturing design methods will also provide hands-on experience to engineering students that can be applied to other projects in their careers. This Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I project will design a customizable, small batch manufacturing system for protective headgear to mitigate the impact from falls. The direct medical cost of falls is estimated at $30.0 billion. Customized and automated manufacturing of the headgear will alleviate the concerns highlighted in the previous compliance trials that indicated goodness of fit is essential to a marketable headgear product. This effort will solidify our ability to manufacture a non-stigmatizing headgear design in a cost-effective manner. Research objectives include quantifying parameters for a customized fit, designing and developing the automated manufacturing system for a product tailored to the individual. The research plan includes using state-of-the-art techniques in image capture and testing of the automation/customization scheme. Automation of the process will control the shape and material details of the product. Another task will evaluate the inclusion of 3-D printing as its capability is quickly maturing and it has the potential to create fully customized headgear. Phase I anticipated results include an operational version of a CAD front end system to capture head piece parameters and the design of a small batch manufacturing system to be built in Phase II.
