Abstract

Existing smart helmets in the market provide only limited functionalities for convenience and lack safety considerations to proactively prevent accidents. We followed a user-centered design process from which we present three major steps in this paper: user research, prototyping, and testing. Our user research revealed core use cases of a new smart helmet. An important usability issue is the way micro-mobility riders make their input while riding. Three alternatives (head gesture, push button, kick button) were evaluated and both quantitative and qualitative feedback was gathered from participants. The results show that head gesture interaction is natural and satisfactory considering the specific riding posture and traffic situations of micro-mobility users. We also present detailed specifications of the rolling head gesture used in our final prototype, as well as the user feedback methods for other functionalities such as a rear approach warning light and rear light.