helmets

It's often said that a soldier's greatest weapon is his head; now, the U.S. Army plans to sharpen that weapon, installing radar in troops' combat helmets, upgrading one of the oldest pieces of infantry armor into an effective tactical device.

The Helmet Mounted Radar Program aims to provide a near-360-degree field for Moving Target Indicator (MTI) radar sensors that is low-power and can detect a moving threat as far out as 25 meters. The sensor should be integrated into the combat helmet and weigh less than two-and-a-half pounds, with less than a pound mounted on the helmet itself.

And you thought that lady from your car's navigation system was stern. Human-machine interface Researchers from Kajimoto Laboratory came up with this GPS navigation helmet that doesn't give directions in words, it "shows" the wearer which way to go by tugging on the appropriate ear, just like mom used to do. "Being pulled on the ear for navigation is a common situation when we were children," researchers write, "and hence, the sensation should be quite intuitive."

For blind people who can't perfect the system of clicks and whistles designed in Spain for human echolocation, researchers at the University of Bristol in England have created a new solution: a helmet that automatically transforms a map of the surrounding area into sound.