Sunday, April 13, 2008

Michael Chen's safety sleeves.


Via newlaunches.com
"Cyclists by far have way less safety devices for themselves. Automobiles on the other hand have countless safety devices to keep motorists safe. What’s with the partiality I wonder. Making stuff to keep cyclists safe just makes sense as for one they are a lot more vulnerable if an accident does take place and also with this whole world going on this “keep the world green” trip, cycling is becoming the environmental friendly thing to do. Anyhow, the point of this article being that the shortfall of the safety devices for cyclists inspired Michael Chen, a student of the London School of Design to invent a jacket he calls the Reactiv (no the absence of an e there is not a typo). Basically what this jacket does is uses an accelerometer to track movement and also has LEDs on the sleeves that change colours depending on the cyclists actions. For example green is for acceleration, red for braking and flashing amber for turns.

The design has won a James Dyson Award from the James Dyson foundation for inspiring design innovation. The Reactiv jacket is only a concept at present, but Chen hopes to make a reality in production."

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