Decelerator helmet: viewing the world in slow motion

The Decelerator helmet delivers the user a perception of the planet in slow motion.

Lorenz Potthast was a first-12 months arts pupil when he created the Decelerator helmet – a hefty piece of headwear that enables the wearer to expertise a slowed-down globe. “I didn’t just want to design yet another app to make grocery shopping less difficult,” he says. “I wanted to do some thing experimental that could give a genuine expertise.”

The helmet is basically a shiny metal dome that records the see from a front camera and processes it by means of a modest computer to a display in front of the wearer’s eyes. The slow-motion is managed by a handheld remote. “The initial 3 minutes are just perplexing, but then you get a truly feel for it and you turn into the director of your personal perception,” he says. “It’s alienating, due to the fact you happen to be encountering time at a distinct pace to your own surroundings so you can not truly interact, but it is also somehow fascinating. Individuals usually never want to consider it off yet again.”

In spite of the attraction, Potthast, 23, has no ambition to market the helmet commercially. “It was never meant as a solution,” he says, and however finds himself more and more in demand from conferences, exhibitions and entrepreneurs throughout the world. The most latest was in March, from a bodily rehabilitation clinic in Italy, Villa Beretta. The director, Dr Franco Molteni, had heard of the helmet and recognised its potential as a therapeutic support for his disabled sufferers.

“I hoped there could be a true use for it,” says Potthast, “so the phone from Villa Beretta was the nicest issue that’s took place to me so far.” Soon after numerous scientific studies with volunteer patients at the clinic, Potthast and the Italian physicians eventually identified an intriguing achievable use for the helmet. A single patient, who had suffered a stroke and could no longer completely open his hands, was motivated to overcome this physical barrier following wearing the helmet in the course of his workout routines and seeing his fingers unfold in slow motion. “It is a bit like tricking the brain,” Potthast says, “but they’re contemplating building it into a real investigation subject.” For Potthast and his slow-movement helmet, it appears accomplishment has been very rapid indeed.

Decelerator helmet: viewing the world in slow motion