The AD phone case shoots out impact-absorbing legs when you drop your phone

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In today’s world of all-glass mobile phones, a protective case is a necessary evil. Even the best cases have issues with impact resistance but that might be about to change with this innovative case created by a student in Germany.

Philip Frenzel, who studies at Aalen University, created the AD phone case (AD stands for active dampening) which acts as an airbag for your phone. Instead of an inflatable bag, there are eight hook-like springs that pop out when the embedded sensors detect your phone is in free-fall.

Then your phone will just harmlessly bounce around when it hits the ground, instead of turning into a spiderweb of cracks. The system is reusable and only requires you to fold the springs back into the case after activation. If it really does work as well as in the below video, I can see this being a success.

It’s not entirely foolproof, as if it drops onto an uneven surface it still might take damage since the springs might not contact the surface first. That, however, may be on the list for improvements.

I  wouldn’t like for it to activate in my pocket accidentally, so hopefully, there are countermeasures to prevent that from happening. Would make for an embarrassing emergency room visit.

Fenzel won the top award from the German Society for Mechatronics for the prototype of the case, and a patent has been registered. That’s probably a good indication that the case will get out of the prototype stages, so maybe a crowdfunding campaign will be in the young student’s future.

What do you think about the AD phone case? Would you use it? Let us know in the comments.

For more tech news, see:

• Qualcomm’s new headphone chip will make wireless headphones better than ever
• It looks like Google Maps is getting incident reporting, just like Waze
• Snap is looking to launch a full-fledged gaming service within Snapchat

Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.