Social Distancing Headgear For The Futuristically Inclined

24 Comments

Those of you with an eye to classic cinema will remember 1985’s Back To The Future, and particularly its scientist character Dr. Emmett Brown. When the protagonist Marty McFly finds himself in 1955, on his first meeting with they younger Dr. Brown the latter is wearing an experimental helmet designed to read thoughts. It doesn’t work, but it’s an aesthetic we’re reminded of in [Håkan Lidbo]’s Corona Hat, a social distancing tool that incorporates distance sensors into a piece of headgear.

The device is simple enough, half of a globe fitted with a set of car reversing sensors and the battery from an autonomous vacuum cleaner. It’s sprayed a bright orange, and worn on the head as he walks around town in the video below the break. It beeps any time something or somebody gets too close, and as far as we can see it’s effective in what it does. We are not so sure about the look though, to us as well as Emmett Brown it’s a little too reminiscent of the character Sheev in the 2005 Dukes of Hazzard movie who wore an armadillo’s armour as a hat. Perhaps more conventional headgear as a basis might gain it a few fewer askance looks.

This isn’t the first ultrasonic social distancing sensor we’ve seen. Probably the most noteworthy project in this arena though has to be the one with the high voltage that scares more with its bark than its bite.

Thanks [Måns Almered] for the tip!

24 thoughts on “Social Distancing Headgear For The Futuristically Inclined”

    2. The term Physical distancing is ambiguous. Distancing between what? Two objects? A person and an object? Maybe we use a term to clarify things. A word that encapsulates the meaning of distancing between members of a society. I wonder what word would fit…

      Report comment
      Reply

      2. Social distancing is so much more ambiguous. By your reasoning, people might think it only applies to your friends and not random people on the sidewalk or at the grocery store. It’s a dumb phrase. It’s totally needlessly dystopian sounding. People instinctively hate it, even before they learn how miserable it makes them feel after a while. And how nobody is actually getting any financial or housing backup, the state is just gonna leave people out to dry until they riot… but that’s another story. At the very least they could’ve branded it better.

        Report comment
        Reply

  6. That reminds me of a quote from that movie I would love to use in some of the shops where people don’t observe social distancing:

    “I’M SURROUNDED BY ASSHOLES!”

    Now there’s an idea – a darth va… I mean dark helmet-style covid mask!
    “I can’t breathe in this thing!”

    Report comment
    Reply

        1. When then? Do we have to wait until we have a bad joke vaccine? The death of George Flynn was a horrible thing but should our sense of humor die along with him? Would he want that? I know I don’t.

          Report comment
          Reply

  12. Yeah big apologies. I didn’t mean anything by it.
    Was quoting the film and got carried away.

    There’s nothing funny about this pandemic.

    Although it’s certainly entertaining seeing the solutions some people are creating to keep people safe, no matter how crazy they might look.

    Stay safe, people.

    Report comment
    Reply

Leave a Reply

Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy)

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.