Mobile Airbag seems like a weird thing to look for but is it necessary?
Yesterday, I dropped a phone I bought a week ago. I was still waiting for its cover to arrive and had only placed a stock temper glass protection screen on it. As I saw it falling, time slowed down. The muscles in my body involuntarily moved and I fell to the floor just as quickly as my heart sank. I couldn’t reach it on time and saw it smash against the pavement on a busy street. I picked up the phone and dreaded the very thought of turning it around to look at the screen. I closed one eye to minimize the damage my soul could take and with a squint looked at the phone as I turned it around. The tempered glass screen guard was done for; cracked and even dusty with the glass that shattered while trying to protect the screen of my phone. I pushed the lock button and voila! The screen worked.
As I write this, I can feel a million people nodding in unison as I ask the question again; is a Mobile Airbag necessary?
Yes; as per me and a young student at Aalen University, Germany. While Amazon and Sony were busy filing patents, Philip Frenzel designed this unique cover which will activate a quick defence mechanism that protects your mobile against falling from medium to tall heights, which are capable enough of damaging your device for good.
For this extremely unique design and thoughtful innovation, he was awarded a national prize from the German Society of Mechatronics.
Yet, although intriguing, let’s find out how he achieves this feat.
What made him start looking for this perfect protection of phone?
The first thing that he needed for the invention of mobile airbag was sacrifice. Sacrifice, of A LOT of phones. The device took a long time to be made according to the Preview Online, a German publication. He was unimpressed with the kind of device protection services that we had and after breaking 2 phones in succession, the obsession for the perfect security jacket began. It took him 4 years till the date he received the national prize to perfect his design.
How does it work?
It took a number of permutations and combinations before Philip was able to perfect this design.
Like the name suggests, the first thought that came to his mind was to have it made exactly like how an air bag works. With a single drop, small air bags were planned to be deployed on the sides of the phone but it didn’t work. He always believed that the solution lied somewhere in the mechatronics field that he was pursuing and the image of a ‘Spider-like’ application that never left his mind. He turned to his Prof. Dr. Arif Kazi looking for ways to make this project work, as better as possible.
This is when Philip Frenzel had an epiphany. The answer was simple: Freefall. If he was able to somehow connect his phone with freefall detecting sensors, he believed answer would be found.
Hence, the final jacket like design was created powered with freefall detecting sensors and retractable spring loaded dampers, which can manually be retracted into their casing once they activate after detecting the fall. The entire process is so flawless that it looks like magic. This ‘Active Damping’ effect made him name his jacket, the ‘AD Case’; or how we are now used to calling it: the Mobile Airbag.
How well does it protect?
It is impeccable. The dynamically activated dampers open as soon as the detectors realize the phone is in a freefall state. These four, 3-D printed dampers can absorb a lot of damage and can still not lose their solid ‘Spider-like’ shape.
This provides protection to your device from all four sides and the contorted legs like extensions protect the top and the bottom of the device effectively too from being dropped at a distance.
What’s the future?
Sadly as of now, the AD case is still not available commercially. Although the design has won awards and accolades, it is still being perfected to ensure maximum protection for all your devices.
However, Philip Frenzel is reportedly aiming to start funding for his revolutionary design on Kickstarter soon. Expectedly, it can start anytime from a couple of weeks to a month, maximum. His team is ready to go as he has chosen Peter Mayer, another Aalen University graduate in Economics to help him successfully run the marketing and commercial campaign of his product soon.
While the protection cases, tempered glass screen guards and silicon cases have failed to protect our phones from physical damage which caused us to lose hundreds of dollars in mobile repairs, ‘AD Case’ may be the answer we all have been searching for. This innovative design and effective protection offered by this ‘Mobile Airbag’ can open a door to other efficient designs as well.
Although the future is only a guess, the opportunities do sure seem endless here.
Keep following our Latest News section for latest updates about the Mobile Airbag.
