A helmet that streams live video lessons from professionals in the field

The Netherlands is facing a severe shortage of technical graduates, with each year losing around 20.000 graduates. Along with agency Achtung! mcbarrygowen, Volkswagen Bedrijswagens asked us to help develop Klassewerk - a series of Instagram livestreams for technical students in college to learn about sustainable projects carried out by the best professionals in their fields, who stream their work live via a customised safety helmet.

Students can follow the professionals step by step and ask questions directly on Instagram - giving them an active learning experience from the comfort of their classroom. The fact that these videos are streamed live, and that Instagram is such a commonly used app (and more up-to-date and engaging than a typical textbook!), appealed greatly to this younger generation. Through the combination of these bespoke helmets and Instagram, Volkswagen is delivering a brand new, exciting learning experience to those who are studying to become professionals in these under-represented but critical fields.

Design & Technology

We designed and produced a bespoke camera attachment and integrated it (and all electronics) seamlessly to a classic construction safety helmet. The camera, installed in the front, has the point of view from the professional themselves, and streams directly through Open Broadcasting Software (OBS) to Instagram Live, giving students the same viewpoint as the professional. There is an additional, external camera on a tripod away from the professional, used to show a different angle and the wider scenario.

All this is wirelessly controlled and live edited through a custom dashboard - allowing us to easily switch between intro/outro videos, the helmet camera and the secondary camera stream. There is also an audio feed that gives the professional the questions from the students.

For this project we did the industrial design for the bespoke helmets, as well as developed the software and provided technical assistance during the live events.