Ingenuity has been making the commute safer for cyclists. Ideas like the Blaze Laserlight put images on the ground that are more visible to drivers.
The Cycle Chaser is a ‘weekend project’ that can take bike light design from Raspberry Pi and improve on it. By adding a battery powered projector, it can put images on the ground that can be programmed by the user.
Raspberry Pi is an online resource to make your own projects, and every person does their own soldering, wiring and assembly. Needless to say, this is not for the simple beginner, as you will need to understand the basics of programming, be able to read technical schematics, and trouble shoot the thing once you have it all together. See how it works after the jump…
It picks up wheel speed with a standard bicycle computer-style sensor and wheel-mounted magnet. It is programmed so when the wheels are spinning at 60 RPM, the projection will play 1 frameper second, but the user can alter this by changing the programming code. Once you finish, the unit mounts to your rack. The pi system easily attaches to the projector with an HDMI cable.
Just think of the possibilities with this idea. If one could program the project effectively, any number of advertisements, messages, or even a map fed from a cell phone could be projected on the ground.
Do you have the know-how to make one of these? Give it a try, and let us know how it goes.
