1. Principles and practices¶

**Week 01: Alice in Wonderland is a story of a bored little girl who sought adventure…and got more than she bargained for. I suppose I share Alice’s need for ‘adventure’…a need to break from my mundane 9 to 5…and let my imagination and dreams take charge of my life for 6 months. With this assignment, I am off on my Fab Academy journey…filled with excitement, anticipation and a good measure of nervousness. But I am committed to this…and here I go. Time to chase the White Rabbit…

This week I worked on defining my final project idea and started to getting used to the documentation process.**

Assignment Requirements: “Plan and sketch a potential final project”

Goal: Learn to use Markdown and Github

Final Project Idea: “GY-RO9 Wings” - A Wearable Safety Enhancement Device for Motorcyclists¶

GY-RO9 Wings was conceived as a romantic solution to the problem of poor visibility of motorcyclists at night. On the road, in darkness, motorcylists are hardly visible…particularly from behind…which puts them at risk of being struck by larger vehicles.¶

With all the technological advancements that have been made with motorcycles, little progress has been made with regards to safety gear for the motorcyclist. Motorcycle gear prioritizes ‘The Image’…the projection of an ‘Attitude’. The motorcyclist as a tough, cool figure…a rebel, a racer, a mounted knight…a Centaur Hero. Practicality and safety has taken secondary importance in motorcycle gear design. The Iconic Black Leather Jacket…looks fantastic, but offers few safety features beyond road rash resistance and ego bruising. It provides little to no impact protection, is miserable in hot weather, and makes riders all but invisible at night. It is time for motorcycle safety gear to make an evolutionary leap.

Motorcycling is fundamentally a romantic pursuit.¶

Style matters when it comes to what a motorcylist will wear. Motorcyclists don’t want to just get from place to place, they also want to look good and feel good doing it. No self-respecting motorcyclist wants to wear the pragmatic but desperately ugly high-viz reflective vest over their ‘bad-ass’ leather jacket. Any practical safety gear solution must not detract from the romantic image of the motorcycle rider.

“GY-RO9 Wings” should intelligently, actively and autonomously increase the visibility of the motorcyclist on the road…while enhancing the rider’s cool factor.¶

A marriage of art and engineering. A highly useful tech that also inspires the imagination.

The device aims, in particular, to increase the visibility of the motorcyclist to those approaching him from behind and from a reasonably far distance. Visibility enhancements will be provided in multiple ways and in an “intelligent”, autonomous, tech-enabled manner.

To be seen by other humans…¶

GY-RO9 Wings will feature:

Practical: A supplementary set of standard vehicular safety illumination to that of the motorcycle, i.e. Brake Light, Turn Indicators…and adding a Hazzard Light
Fun: A user customizable, personalized “fun” illumination program (something that flashes and changes colors in time with music? Don’t know if this has legal issues on the road however…)

To be seen by machine “Vision” devices…¶

GY-RO9 Wings aims to interact with advanced vision tech in automobiles:

Practical: Enlarge the “Target Patch” of the motorcyclist to be more easily “seen” and more easily identified as “Motorcycle/Motorcyclist” by the automobile’s advance vision systems (LiDAR? Anti-collision?)
Fun: “Project” a user customizable Marker-based Augmented Reality (AR) image that can be seen by AR vision devices…(require a GPS module?)

The “GY-RO9 Wings” device will comprise of…¶

A lightweight, waterproof housing Assembly
A Computer Control Unit…with USB/Wifi connection for programming and control
LED illumination…in several functional groups
Various Sensors (dependent on function included in the final project…maybe made modular to allow addition and subtraction of functions?)
Some mechanical actuators (…servo motors to move the Wings)
A harness/mounting system to be worn ‘backpack’ style…or attach to a hard surface (…like GoPro mounts)
A rechargeable battery…micro USB

Some Proposed Primary Functionality of the “GY-RO9 Wings”¶

Auto-On/Off of the device in dark conditions (night, tunnel, shady forest roads)…triggered by a photo sensor
Auto-activation of flashing Brake Lights in immediate coordination with the motorcyclist applying the brakes…triggered by an accelerometer
Auto-activation of appropriate Turn Indicator Light in immediate coordination with left or right turn indicator signals being activated by the motorcyclist…wireless Tx/Rx system wired to the motorcycle’s turn signal wiring?
Auto-activation of Hazzard Light illumination program in foggy conditions…triggered by a combination of a humidity and temperature sensor
Auto-movement of Wing position in coordination with the rider’s body lean angle, to ensure maximum visibility and reduce wind resistance…triggered by gyro sensor

Some Proposed Secondary Functionality of the “GY-RO9 Wings”¶

Auto-activation of AR and enlarged “Target Patch” image to be seen by approaching automobiles…triggered by a rear-facing proximity sensor capable of sensing an approaching vehicle a minimum 100m away
Auto-activation of “emergency condition” broadcast to life-safety professionals if a motorcyclist falls, is immobile and requires emergency services assistance…triggered by accelerometer and gyro sensors, GPS location and emergency signal broadcast provided by GPS module and 3G communication module (?)
User customizable, non-safety related, fun illumination program (for when the rider is no on the road?)…activated by user (via smartphone?). While GY-RO9 Wings prioritizes safety as its main set of functions, it also allows for personalization, customization and amusement by the owner…to establish an emotional bond between the user and the device.

Other possible users of “GY-RO9 Wings”…¶

Illumination programs would need to be customizable for different usage, but “GY-RO9 Wings” may be useful to…

Bicyclists
Runners
Skiers
Emergency service professionals (police, firemen, rescue)