Ben Esquieres, Trey Blystone, Claire Olmsted, Natasha Mody, Matt Benik, Jack Berkowitz, Thomas Eckrich
The bicycle safety vest is a safety tool designed for any type of biker. It acts similar to the lights system on a car or other vehicle. It allows bicyclists to clearly and effectively signal when they are turning or breaking. Via this function, bicyclists can more easily communicate with motor vehicles to help reduce accidents.
Who is it for?
The bicycle safety vest is primarily for bicyclists that frequently ride in dense areas with many cars or for riding very early in the morning or late at night when visibility is poor.
What does the system do?
Broadly, the system gathers inputs from the bicyclist to then display on the back of the vest the bicyclist wears. The bicyclist has a couple simple interactions he or she can make with the bicycle to perform all of the functions.
Each side of the handlebar has a button on it that signals a turn in that direction when pressed.
The bicycle's brakes have stretch sensors built into them so that whenever the bicyclist brakes, the brake animation on the vest automatically plays.
There is a knob in the center that changes the frequency and brightness of the lights for all animations.
There are also 3 LEDs that act as reference for the bicyclist so that they know when either turn signal or the brake lights are on.
Why is it useful?
Currently, existing bicycle safety devices simply consist of a small, singular LED that is not very clear what different flash rates mean. By having large LED strips, our project can display arrows for turning as well as have a small section of lights always blinking for running lights and aggressively blinks the whole panel for braking. These functionalities are similar to current indicators for cars, so drivers are already familiar with them.
How does it work?
The vest is a simple system that consists of a microcontroller that manages the LED strips and is powered by a battery pack. By keeping the vest simplistic, there isn't much weight on the bicyclist's back that would cause any discomfort.
The handlebar houses most of the systems components and inputs. All of the inputs and LED indicators are easily accessible even while riding, so that the bicyclist can primarily focus on controlling the bicycle and watching his or her surroundings.
The box on the middle of the handlebar houses most of the wiring as well as the microprocessors that senses the inputs from the bicyclist and is powered by a battery pack that is attached to the handlebar.
Functionally, the handlebar system (shown on the right) mainly records inputs from the various buttons and sensors on the bicycle. The information is then sent via Bluetooth to the vest, where the microprocessor tells the LED strips what to do based on the information received.
Materials List
ESP32 Microcontroller
Adafruit Circuit Playground Bluefruit
3 AA Battery Pack
0.5 meter Neopixel strips (3)
Buttons (2)
10,000 mAh portable charger
LEDs (3)
Potentiometer
Rubber stretch sensors (2)