Contemporary body armour seeks to protect the wearer from serious or deadly injuries caused by bullets, shrapnel, stabbing and other impacts. However, it can be observed that wearing body armour comes with constraints. It is heavy, bulky, and stiff and the wearer suffers from thermal stress after a short period of use. These side effects have a notable effect on the wearer. Humans wearing protective clothing undergo behavioural changes, notably in their willingness to invest effort in their work and their perception of risk. A degradation of mood is also often associated with the use of protective clothing.
The researcher observed through work experience, conversations with colleagues and a review of the current literature, that the needed improvement of body armour was most often addressed by an engineering approach, linked to the principles of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics).
In reality the solutions derived from a STEM approach on body armour have not offered the sought-after improvement and the failures are often justified by technical prerequisites. The researcher concluded this stagnation is linked to the highly technical focus of the STEM-based approach, and that design thinking and open innovation models need to be researched to demonstrate how design thinking with a user-centred design account could be used to catalyse better and more efficient solutions.
The research aims to:
- prove and promote the benefits of a design approach to industry and government
- improve body armour through the design of products that are fit for purpose
- equip future designers with the theoretical and practical tools and resources to integrate the design process in the development of solutions to body armour
To achieve this, the research will investigate problems with body armour, materials, environmental circumstances, clothing physiology, technical feasibility, level of protection in addition to a user-centred approach (inclusive design) and exploration of innovative models and suitable design processes.
Collaboration with other disciplines and specialists will help to fill the gaps in knowledge and resources relating to the improvement of body armour. The research argues that this approach is unique and will provide a feasible solution for much-needed innovation in the improvement of body armour. It addresses a complex and technical product (body armour) by accommodating multiple (technical), often competing, user-demands (manufacturing standards and end-users) in a given context (high risk environments).
This research is conducted in collaboration with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory UK (Dstl) and is funded by the German Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement (BWB).