Industrial - Bachelors
The Adaptive Responsive Modular Armour (ARMA) is the first step in exploring and developing more ergonomic and effective body armour for the Police. Utilising 3D scanning and Digital Sheet Forming, ARMA provides a more comfortable fit, improved mobility and better protection.
This project explored the ergonomics of police equipment, the initial research was very exploratory and the purpose was to learn about the standard issue equipment and common tasks that police execute on a regular basis. The idea was that through this research, gaps would be identified, and addressed with this project.
This research included 6 interviews and 3 observations with Police officers all over Brisbane, ranging from Brisbane City, Roma Street Station, Fortitude Valley, Brendale and Inala. Additionally secondary research was done with over 25 academic journals which helped support and further elaborate on findings from the interviews and observations.
From these findings, all police officers had complaints in one form or another regarding the bullet proof vest. Most found it very restrictive and didn’t fit them very well. It was also observed a lot of the problems stemmed from storing too much on the vest. The torso provides the most surface area for storage and its central location provides quick access to crucial items. Consequently, the front becomes overloaded making it heavy, uncomfortable and restrictive. Moreover, ballistic plates have been made standard issue very recently to protect officers against heavier gunfire. The problem is that these plates are add-ons to the old vests which already have thick kevlar plating, making it substantially heavier. Consequently, this has had a contradictory effect as officers are taking out their ballistic plates when they feel they don’t need it to make the vest lighter. This results in the officer being at risk of forgetting or misplacing their plates making them more vulnerable to a higher-caliber gunfire.
The initial concept was to redesign vests to fit better, move better, protect more of the body and house a few key electronic functions such as radio, body camera and lights. The idea is that by integrating these electronics into the vest, there would be less items stored on the chest making it less bulky and restrictive. Due to the time constraints, this project is an early exploration into what futuristic body armour would look and function like, with a primary focus on fit, mobility and full body protection.
As a fan of sci-fi movies, the big screen served as a source of inspiration. However as a mechanical engineer and industrial designer it was important the armour was functional and grounded in reality. This meant extensive prototyping had to be done to ensure the user was mobile while remaining sufficiently protected. More plate segmentation meant more vulnerable points and more complexities in manufacturing, Sketching allowed for different plate segmentation configurations to be explored. The first iteration consisted of an armadillo-inspired ab-section with a breastplate that had movable chest pieces that were on rails.
From here the first cardboard armour plates were cut and assembled. When measuring dimensions, the ASTM E2902-12 was consulted to inform what measurements needed to be taken to have proper fitting armour.
These initial tests were fairly positive, with good mobility for the ab section and the breastplate which had sliding chest pieces. It was noted that the cardboard did flex which was not ideal for accurately assessing mobility, therefore the next prototype was made from aluminium sheet metal. The three main reasons why sheet metal was used for prototyping were:
1) Aluminium sheet metal is more rigid and simulates the movement of the real plates more accurately.
2) Comfort can be more accurately assessed wearing sheet metal.
3) This process gives a more in-depth understanding of the manufacturing process.
The second model was a translation of the cardboard design to sheet metal. The main differences came from how the plates attached together, samurai armour served as an inspiration with the plates being threaded together. The metal prototyping process involved cutting, rolling and bending.
After this translation, a few problems were encountered.
1) Attaching the plates together without creating gaps
2) The sliding chest pieces won’t work without interfering with other plates
3) Limited mobility, the pivot point of a human body is below the ribcage.
After these realisations, the next iteration was made. The main changes were that the upper chest plate now is one piece that extends to below the rib cage to allow for better movement. Subsequently, the ab pieces have been reduced in size to accommodate the larger chest piece. The ab pieces have also been overlapped so that gap is upwards to make it harder for knives to be shoved in the gaps. Moreover, it was decided an inner kevlar corset would be underneath the ab plates to prevent stabbing if someone did manage to put a knife in there.
Once the front was refined, the insights from designing it were translated to the back.
Once the general form and function were adequate, it was modelled in SolidWorks. To retain dimensional accuracy, the parts were measured and the mannequin was scanned.
Long is a fourth year Industrial Design and Mechanical Engineering student at QUT. He has professional experience as a designer and engineer in consultancies, start-ups and in academic research and his skills include CAD, visualisation techniques and creative problem solving. His passions are within healthcare, research and development and concept art.