Riding a bicycle at night can be risky when you are covered by darkness on the streets, making it difficult for motor vehicle drivers to see you. Many bike safety devices, such as reflectors and attachable lights don’t work well for side visual footprint.

Inventors Ethan Frier and Jonathan Ota, industrial design students at Carnegie Mellon University, created a solution for the issue of nighttime cycling accidents. Frier and Ota came up with Project Aura: a bicycle lighting system that reinvented the purpose of a bike lighting system. These two inventors embedded LEDs in the rims of the bike, powered by a front hub dynamo, creating a functional safety lighting system for bicycle riders. Rim-mounted LEDs change colors based on how fast you ride—self-powered (by a front hub dynamo) to boot. Frier and Ota  accomplished this by expanding the surface area of light emitted through the use of RGB LEDs inside the rims of the wheels that change from red when slowing down to white when at cruising speed.

Watch this YouTube video showing how Project Aura works:

Tagged as:
Accidents,
Bicycle Lighting,
Bicycle Riders,
Bike Safety,
Carnegie Mellon University,
Darkness,
Frier,
Functional Safety,
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Industrial Design Students,
Inventors,
Jonathan,
Lighting System,
Motor Vehicle Drivers,
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Ota,
Reflectors,
Rims,
Safety Devices,
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Article source: http://inventornotes.com/2012/10/26/inventors-ethan-frier-and-jonathan-ota-make-bicycling-safer/

Tagged as: Accidents, Bicycle Lighting, Bicycle Riders, Bike Safety, Carnegie Mellon University, Darkness, Frier, Functional Safety, Hub Dynamo, Industrial Design Students, Industrial Lighting, Inventors, Jonathan, Lighting System, Motor Vehicle Drivers, Reflectors, Rims, Safety Devices, Safety Lighting, Surface Area