checklight
Latest
Testing Reebok's Checklight head impact monitor with a human punching bag
Last year Reebok showed up to CES with the Checklight, a head-impact sensor developed in collaboration with mc10. Problem was, the company didn't really have a way to demo the preproduction version of its G-force sensor. They simply slipped it into a black skullcap and let the press take photos. But, in the interim, it's come to market, offering protection to athletes young and old, for a reasonably affordable $149. This year, the companies came fully prepared with a pair of boxing gloves and some headgear. Naturally, being the masochist I am, I invited anyone who was interested to join me at the Reebok booth on the show floor where they would get to punch me in the face. The response was alarmingly enthusiastic.Not wanting to disappoint, I dutifully donned the black skullcap, with the sensor's blinking display hanging behind my head. Then it was just a matter of removing the glasses, putting on the foam headgear and accepting that I'd brought this on myself. To the Checklight's testament, it appears to work quite well. After taking a surprisingly strong blow from one of the many editors lined up to take a swing, the rotational and directional sensors inside triggered an alert that perhaps my coworker had gotten a little too enthusiastic. The light at the back flashed yellow to indicate that I absorbed a moderate impact. After assuring everyone that I was ok, we continued with the demonstration. But, had the light flashed red, the hands-on (fists-on?) would have been quickly called to a close. While red doesn't mean you have a concussion, it does indicate that you've taken a particularly hard hit and should get checked out. For more of this Engadget editor getting punched in the head, check out the video after the break.
Checklight, the head impact indicator from Reebok and mc10 is now on sale for $149.99
At CES 2013, mc10 and Reebok revealed the Checklight, a product built to help protect athletes who play football, hockey and other impact sports. Today, you can purchase one of your very own in men's, women's or children's sizes for $149.99 from Reebok's website. For your money, you get the sensor strip, a skull cap to keep it snug on your noggin and a micro-USB charger to keep it powered up. For those who've forgotten, the Checklight's a head impact indicator powered by mc10's flexible electronics technology that gives athletes and medical personnel simple, actionable information about impacts to the wearer's head. It's not a concussion detector, per se, but it does provide information about the location, number and intensity of impacts to your dome -- so it's a valuable tool that can help identify those in danger and keep them out of harm's way. Well worth $150, we'd say.
Reebok and mc10 team up to build CheckLight, a head impact indicator (hands-on)
Concussions have always been a concern for those who play contact sports. However, there's been a renewed focus in recent years by the sports community -- the NFL in particular -- to learn more about concussions in the interests of promoting player safety. Pro leagues aren't the only folks tackling the problem, though. Verizon, Intel and Ridell are all building systems to help identify concussed players. Reebok and mc10 have collaborated to create CheckLight, a head impact indicator meant to make it easy to see when an athlete has taken a dangerous blow to the head. The CheckLight is composed of two parts: a sensor device built by mc10 and skull-cap made by Reebok. The sensor itself is a strip of plastic filled with flexible sensors connected to a small microcontroller module with three indicator LEDs and a micro-USB port. One LED serves as a battery level indicator, one flashes yellow after moderate impacts and a third flashes red for severe blows. mc10 wasn't willing to share the exact hardware inside, but we know that it's got a rechargeable battery and has rotational acceleration, multi-directional acceleration, impact location and impact duration sensors. Data from those sensors is then run through the company's proprietary algorithm to determine when to fire the LEDs. We got to chat with Isaiah Kacyvenski -- mc10's Director of Licensing and Business development and ex-NFL player -- about the CheckLight and the role it has to play in keeping athletes safe, so join us after the break for more.
