Re-inventing the Shin Guard: Groundbreaking Design with Smart Materials

传统的足球护膝十多年来一直没有改变。从本质上讲，现有的产品是一种坚硬的、一刀切的、由商品泡沫支撑的固体模塑产品，既僵硬又不舒服。但是，根据国际足联和英足总的规定，他们必须在每场比赛中使用。即使是那些以“创新”为荣的领先品牌，也会使用同样的方法，在这些保护器上使用传统的刚性负载扩展器，这最终会导致产品质量不佳——我们相信，这可以通过真正的创新来解决。Armourgel将通过推出下一代灵活，透气，完全集成的胫骨垫，颠覆停滞不前的足球胫骨垫市场，使用新颖的智能材料直接成型到纺织品中，为用户设计，具有无与伦比的冲击性能。在自动化过程中直接将保护材料成型到3D针织袜子或管上，将提供柔软灵活的保护，并随身体肌肉组织移动。这是第一次制造和装配在同一个单一过程中完成，省去了缝纫。项目结果是对这种方法在护膝上的可行性研究-证明材料可以满足用户的需求，并且可以在单一过程中增加所有产品的价值。

The traditional football shin pad has remained unchanged for over a decade. Essentially a stiff, one-size-fits-all, solid moulded item backed by commodity foam, existing products are stiff and uncomfortable. However, they must be used for every match as stipulated by FIFA and the FA. Even leading brands who pride themselves on 'innovation' use the same approach with a traditional stiff load spreader for these protectors, which subsequently ends in a poor product offering - something we believe can be tackled with real innovation. Armourgel will disrupt the stagnant soccer shin pad market by introducing the next generation flexible, breathable, fully integrated shin pad, using novel smart materials directly moulded to textile designed for the user from the ground up with unmatched impact performance. Directly moulding protective material onto 3D knitted socks or tubes in an automated process will give soft and flexible protection which moves with the musculature of the body. For the first time manufacturing and assembly are completed in the same single process, removing stiching. The project output is a feasibility study of this methodology in a shin guard - proving the user needs can be met with the material and that all the product value can be added in a single process.