Lumigrids LED projector maps out rough roads

[cirr]

Clattering through potholes at night could be a thing of this past with this LED projector that warns of hazards

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David Arthur, June 3, 2013

Lumigrids is a smart LED system that projects a square grid into your path to help you search out hazards by looking for changes in the grid. When riding along a rough road the small grids will deform and make it easier to spot and avoid potholes, sunken drain covers, cracks and over hazards you don’t want to cycle over.

It’s an interesting design and picked up the Red *** Design Award for ‘Best of the Best 2012’, an international award for design innovation. Ride at night time and spotting the myriad of hazards with even very bright cycle lights can be challenging. Regular lights cast shadows and don’t always pick out potholes until it’s too late.

The designers behind Lumigrids wanted to improve night riding safety: "It can be difficult for night cyclists to get a good sense of the condition of the terrain ahead, even with a typical bicycle lamp. In many cases, a bicycle lamp will cast shadows on both concave and convex areas of the ground. This can hinder the rider's judgment of the road surface ahead, and increase the potential for danger.”

Lumigrids is a small device that clamps to the handlebar and can emit a variety of grid sizes. The normal setting displays a 140 x 180mm (5.5 x 7.1-inch) grid. The light also acts as a regular light, showing you presence to other road users.

It reminds us of the Blaze, an LED that projects a green symbol of a cyclist onto the Tarmac ahead of you to warn other road users' that you're there. We think Lumigrids has better practical use, if it really can help to pick out potholes and the like.

Lumigrids was developed by researchers from the Sichuan University in China. We hope it does go into production because we think it has genuine potential. We’d certainly like to try it out to see how it performs.


Lumigrids LED projector maps out rough roads | road.cc | Road cycling news, Bike reviews, Commuting, Leisure riding, Sportives and more

 

[cirr]

The bike light that can reveal potholes: Grid projected onto road can help cyclists avoid crashes

The Lumigrids is an LED projector that is attached to bicycles and shows a square grid on the ground to highlight potholes

Grid sizes can be adjusted for normal mode, high-speed mode and team mode

Lumigrids won the 'best of the best' Red *** Design Award for 2012

By Victoria Woollaston

PUBLISHED: 14:46 GMT, 24 May 2013 | UPDATED: 15:24 GMT, 25 May 2013


Engineers from Sichuan University have designed an LED projector that can be fitted to bicycles and help cyclists see the road ahead more effectively at night.

Lumigrids projects square grids onto the ground in front of the bike.

As the road surface changes, the grid bends, curves and changes shape to highlight the potential hazards ahead.

Lumigrids has now been awarded the Red *** Design Award for 2012 in the 'best of the best' category.

The Chinese designers came up with the idea because they thought traditional bicycle lamps hindered the rider's judgment.

In the award entry, they said: 'It can be difficult for night cyclists to get a good sense of the condition of the terrain ahead, even with a typical bicycle lamp.

'In many cases, a bicycle lamp will cast shadows on both concave and convex areas of the ground.

'This can hinder the rider's judgment of the road surface ahead, and increase the potential for danger.'

On a flat road surface, the grid is made of standard squares.

On a rough road surface, the grid's squares deform to the shape of the hazard or hole.

Cyclists can monitor the motion and deformation of the grids to read the road ahead.

The grids can also make the bicycle more visible, making it easier for pedestrians and vehicles to notice the bicycle and reduce the chances of collisions and road accidents.

The Lumigrids projector is fixed to a bicycle’s handlebars.

It can be powered by either an internal battery, when the bike is waiting at traffic lights or stationary.

When the bicycle is moving, the rotation of the wheels can also power the gadget.

Lumigrids only uses one button so that the rider isn't distracted when trying to use it while cycling.

The first press turns it on, the second press changes the mode of projection, and holding the button down for two seconds turns the gadget off.

Lumigrids has three modes with different grid sizes that can be used to adapt to different situations.

These are normal mode (14x18cm), high-speed mode (14x26cm), and team mode (30x20cm).

The designers were Professor Gan Jing, Xun Zhang, An Pengcheng, Sun Yan, Jiang Cong, Li Ke, Du Tao, Zheng Yuemei, Cai Jing & Liu Zhenghao.

They have not released details of when the Lumigrids will be available to buy, or how much it will cost.


Read more: The bike light that can reveal potholes: Grid projected onto road can help cyclists avoid crashes | Mail Online
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[Crypto]

good idea but if the projected grid is too close and biker is staring at it trying to find anomalies, it can prove lethal.

 

[Argus Panoptes]

good idea but if the projected grid is too close and biker is staring at it trying to find anomalies, it can prove lethal.

I agree with that concern. What good is avoiding potholes if you get run over by a bus because you are not looking ahead far enough?

 

[Crypto]

I agree with that concern. What good is avoiding potholes if you get run over by a bus because you are not looking ahead far enough?

Try biking at medium pace and glue your eyes on the track/road near your front tire. your vision will narrow down to a limited area and you won't be able to brake on time falling in a ditch

But if this grid is at an optimum distance where the vision (especially at night) is not restricted it may work.
The above images show the grid to be very close!