"I was in early morning traffic when an inattentive driver hit me
from behind and I was thrown from my motorcycle." Ryan Shearman, founder
and CEO of FUSAR Technologies, tells me at Augmented World Expo 2014. It's the
kind of thing that could happen to any
motorcyclist -- and indeed, happens too often -- but it also served as
a spark of inspiration. "It started the wheels turning in my head: how can
I make motorcycle riding safer?" His answer was to build
a better helmet.
Shearman calls his smart helmet the Guardian; it's a DOT approved brain
bucket with an Android board, two wide-angle cameras and bits and
pieces from an Epson
Moverio. "What it is, is a fully integrated and connected device that
motorcyclists can wear that allows them to have a full cognitive awareness of
what's going on around them." The Epson optics provide the rider with a
detailed heads-up display, filling their view with data from the rear view
camera, their current speed and navigation information.
"It also has video recording capabilities," he told me.
"Everything is recorded passively, but in the event that an accident is
detected, that footage is locked into hard memory. It effectively has a black
box feature built in." It sounds like a great feature, but Shearman
obviously wants it to be used as infrequently as possible. The helmet's
software package is being designed to monitor the cameras for potential hazards
-- if all goes well, the final product will be able to alert the driver of a dangerous
situation before it becomes an accident. He also plans to add voice
control to future prototypes.
The models Shearman brought to AWE were pretty beat up, but with good
reason: the entrepreneur has been riding up and down California's Pacific Coast
Highway all week, shooting footage for his company's upcoming Kickstarter video. The
company plans to launch its crowdfunding imitative by mid July, and wants to
have the Guardian on the market in about a year. Hungry for a safer helmet?
Check out the firm's website at
the source link below.
Source:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/30/augmented-reality-motorcycle-helmet/?ncid=rss_truncated
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