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Mar 2024 – Oct 2025 Hardware · Patent pending

Smart Safety Helmet for Delivery Riders

Cyclist, Designer & Researcher

To address the distraction caused by delivery riders repeatedly checking their phones, I independently designed and built a helmet-integrated heads-up vision-assistance system, refining it through successive prototypes.

Role
Sole designer & builder
Timeline
Mar 2024 – Oct 2025
Status
Patent pending
Stack
ESP32 · PCB design · IMU · 3D printing · Micro-display
The finished helmet with the heads-up display mounted at the edge of the rider’s view
Final prototype: speed, posture and battery at the edge of the rider’s vision.

Starting from the road

As a cyclist, I noticed how often delivery riders glance down at phones mounted on their handlebars. I began with field research — observing riders in real delivery contexts — which confirmed that looking down for navigation, orders and notifications was the dominant source of riding distraction.

Three engineering goals

  1. 01

    Keep information in view

    Speed, posture and battery should sit at the edge of the rider’s field of vision — never in a pocket or below the handlebars.

  2. 02

    Alert without distracting

    Warnings must never compete with the rider’s control of the vehicle.

  3. 03

    Keep the helmet a helmet

    Nothing may weaken the protective structure of the shell.

The build

  • Schematic design, PCB layout and fabrication around an ESP32 with two display connectors, USB-C charging and serial programming.
  • ESP32 firmware driving a micro-display that projects through a reflective light guide at the edge of the rider’s view.
  • A custom 3D-printed mounting structure that holds the display without cutting into the helmet’s protective foam.
  • The “Rigonomics” posture algorithm: it computes key body angles from IMU and gyroscope data and triggers alerts when posture leaves a safe range.
  • LED indicators, collision detection, environmental sensing and handlebar-mounted controls complete the system.

Gallery

Circuit schematic divided into MCU, reset, Type-C, RGB indicator, serial programming, power and display blocks
Schematic
PCB layout in the design tool
PCB layout
Rendered helmet circuit board
3D render of the control board
CAD model of the 3D-printed display mount
CAD model of the display mount
Bench test of the board driving two micro-displays
First bench test of both displays
Fitting the display ribbon cable inside the helmet
Routing the display inside the shell
Installing the control board inside the helmet
Installing the control board
Zimo cycling along a coastal road at sunset
Where it started: riding

“The hardest part of human-centered engineering is not the technology but the trade-offs — visibility vs. bulk, functionality vs. safety, alert intensity vs. attentional load — and each can only be resolved by continuing to watch real riders.”