Automotive

i-protect system aims to prevent door-dings

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New student-designed technology keeps car doors from being opened into things – things such as other car doors
The i-protect team (left to right): Severin Luhr (17), Leona Schultz (17), Marisa Jain (17), Karl-Bernd Burbach (teacher), Laura Krieglstein (16), Vincent Gramlich (15)
business@school
New student-designed technology keeps car doors from being opened into things – things such as other car doors

Car doors can be ungainly when they're being opened, smacking into things like garage walls, light posts, or the body panels of other cars. While some groups have developed side bumpers to minimize the damage, a group of German high school students has come up with an alternative – a system that stops the door from opening before it can hit anything.

Known as i-protect (and formerly as the Intelligent Door System), the technology was developed by a team from Cologne's Erzbischoefliche Liebfrauenschule.

Although little is currently available in the way of technical details, the basic idea is that the system utilizes sensors to detect when an opening door is about to strike an object. A "door braking" system is then activated, temporarily stopping the door before it can make contact.

i-protect recently won first place in the Boston Consulting Group's business@school entrepreneurial competition. It is now being commercially developed by German automotive closure system manufacturer Kiekert, which also supported the student team in the competition. The students will retain the patent rights to the technology.

Source: Kiekert

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4 comments
Timelord
Doesn't keep someone in the next parking space from opening their door into yours.
Douglas Bennett Rogers
Grocery carts are very creative in their ways to damage cars.
Kevin Ritchey
I was going to point out the obvious but was beat to it. What is needed is some way to idiot-proof other people from opening their doors into your vehicle. Now that would be something to cheer about. "Shields up Mr. Sulu!" Then activate a tractor beam to keep them in place by your car until you could return and kick their ass.
Wolf0579
What is it with these marketers that feel like they must slap a lower case "i" in front of everything??? I'd like to bitch-slap Apple (the electronics corp. not the Original) for doing that in the first place with their phone, and every one else that copied it. There's only one thing that a lower case "i" says to me... "insipid".