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The smart backpack that signals for you!
When it comes to safety lighting systems, the number of wacky ideas and designs seems endless. Those wacky inflatable airbag helmets come to mind, and the testicle-shaped rear safety light is clearly the pinnacle of bicycle lighting systems. But wait till you hear about BrakePack, a backpack that is designed to emit signal lights to alert road-users of the rider’s intention to change direction.
Designed and developed by Artefact, a seattle-based company that develops hardware and software solutions for global institutions like Microsoft and Google, the BrakePad is made for riders who want to increase their visibility on the roads.
Fitted with LED lights within the frontal straps on each side and within the trapezoidal chevrons on the surface of the bag, the BrakePad’s signalling function is activated by a companion mobile app. How it works is this – the rider would enter his or her intended destination in the installed app, which would then provide the rider with turn-by-turn navigation and, at the same time, induces the BrakePad’s LED lights, via Bluetooth, to flicker in the same direction as the navigated route. This automation allows the rider to focus on the road situation without the need to display hand gestures, which could be unclear to some motorists, about his intention to turn left or right.
(Lighting system in the BrakePad: The left depicts the front view and the right depicts the back view.)
In the absence of the app, the BrakePad would still be able to perform its signalling function. All the rider needs to do is to simply give a tap on the side of the shoulder strap that he or she is intending to turn to, and the BrakePad’s signalling indicators would light up. According to Artefact’s website, tapping on the shoulder strap has been proven to be a more natural and safer action than using hand gestures.
The BrakePad is also fitted with an accelerometer, which triggers red-coloured braking lights once it senses that the rider is slowing down.
(The SEIL backpack which was introduced two years ago.)
The concept of fitting indicator lights on a backpack is not a novel one. Two years ago, online magazine Gizmag reported about the Safe Enjoy Interact Light (SEIL), which is a prototype backpack that features text messages to alert the motorists who are driving behind the rider. The signalling indicator system in the SEIL backpack is reportedly operated from a handle-bar wireless controller.
The BrakePad is still at the prototype stage. We hope they will make it available and affordable very soon!
Original source from http://www.gizmag.com/artefact-brakepack-cyclist-backpack-indicator/37507/
Fitted with LED lights within the frontal straps on each side and within the trapezoidal chevrons on the surface of the bag, the BrakePad’s signalling function is activated by a companion mobile app. How it works is this – the rider would enter his or her intended destination in the installed app, which would then provide the rider with turn-by-turn navigation and, at the same time, induces the BrakePad’s LED lights, via Bluetooth, to flicker in the same direction as the navigated route. This automation allows the rider to focus on the road situation without the need to display hand gestures, which could be unclear to some motorists, about his intention to turn left or right.
(Lighting system in the BrakePad: The left depicts the front view and the right depicts the back view.)
In the absence of the app, the BrakePad would still be able to perform its signalling function. All the rider needs to do is to simply give a tap on the side of the shoulder strap that he or she is intending to turn to, and the BrakePad’s signalling indicators would light up. According to Artefact’s website, tapping on the shoulder strap has been proven to be a more natural and safer action than using hand gestures.
The BrakePad is also fitted with an accelerometer, which triggers red-coloured braking lights once it senses that the rider is slowing down.
(The SEIL backpack which was introduced two years ago.)
The concept of fitting indicator lights on a backpack is not a novel one. Two years ago, online magazine Gizmag reported about the Safe Enjoy Interact Light (SEIL), which is a prototype backpack that features text messages to alert the motorists who are driving behind the rider. The signalling indicator system in the SEIL backpack is reportedly operated from a handle-bar wireless controller.
The BrakePad is still at the prototype stage. We hope they will make it available and affordable very soon!
Original source from http://www.gizmag.com/artefact-brakepack-cyclist-backpack-indicator/37507/
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