Making a bike light / proximity sensor prototype
Short group project as part of
the Design, Art & Creativity module at Imperial College.
For a 65kg rider riding at 11m/s (25 mph) on the flat, approximately 87% of effort is used to overcome aerodynamic drag. Whilst this is an extreme case it demonstrates the power required to overcome aerodynamic drag.
To combat this in competition, professional cyclists draft behind each other, taking turns at the front to maintain momentum and reduce the effort required by a single person. Through this, the group are able to reduce the effort required and increase the speed they are travelling at.
Furthermore, cycling in numbers presents safety advantages, as groups of cyclists will be directly more visible .
SHOAL aims to create a community of cyclists in London that ride together, not against each other. By creating these groups via a smartphone app and some hardware integration, SHOAL will not only reduce the effort required to complete the daily commute, but it will make it safer at the same time.
Red LED indicates when bikers are too close together, and green LED flashes when it's the next person's turn to join the front of the shoal.
As an initial proof of concept a physical intervention will be carried out giving participants a bike peripheral to signal their participation of the scheme with a set of preliminary guidelines. If successful, the team would expand and develop an app to work in conjunction with the peripheral to provide a platform for a community through social media.