Homemade Heads Up Display For Bicycling? 27
An anonymous reader asks: "I am a geek that bicycles in an urban center. After seeing this commercial product, I was interested in the possibility of building a homebrew HUD for a bicycle helmet. I searched the usual places and couldn't find much so I thought I'd ask the readers of Slashdot. A HUD that displays speed, distance, and cadence seems very feasible as many bike computers collect that data. A great longshot would be a range-finder that told you the distance to the object you were turned toward, but I'm not crossing my fingers for that. So what components would be needed to make such a cool device?"
Are you nuts? (Score:5, Insightful)
As an urban bicycle commuter, my suggestion is that the distance to far-off objects is probably less valuable to you than an extra fraction of a second of reaction time to a door opening in your path. If you have sufficient attention to spare to run gkrellm or SuperKaramba on your helmet, you have more than most of us.
Re:Are you nuts? (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Are you nuts? (Score:2)
Especially if you are this guy [everything2.com]
Re:Are you nuts? (Score:1, Flamebait)
Re:Are you nuts? (Score:1)
Re:Are you nuts? (Score:2)
Of course if you do this, make sure any headphones don't interfere with hearing what's around you, such as a car horn. A quick snippet of "twenty-two k" shouldn't inte
Xybernaut (Score:2, Informative)
Re:MIT Wearables (Score:1)
This guy used to be famous (Score:5, Informative)
Peripheral Display (Score:4, Interesting)
It would be a bit safer than a textual display which requires you to change your eye's focal distance to read. Just make sure you don't blind yourself with it at night.
Portable lasers and bicycles (Score:5, Insightful)
Before you spend any serious money on this, I would suggest taking a laser pointer outside to see how far away you can make out the spot. I don't think it's going to be very far at all. Maybe one of those laser tape measures would do the trick, though.
More powerful lasers, to put a bigger spot farther away, aren't going to be as portable, and will probably be a danger to pedestrians or fellow cyclists if you glance at them to say hi.
I would suggest trying to satisfy your number fetish with a top-line bicycle computer. Mine (a Specialized P-Brain) records heart rate and altitude along with speed and distance, and can download data to a Windows box for graphing (I tried the software under Wine but it didn't seem to work). Other computers use GPS to track your location, or measure the chain tension to record the smoothness of your pedal stroke. Others record your power output with a special hub.
When I ride, I never do more than glance at my computer. It's not safe when the traffic's heavy- the numbers *always* take a back seat to situational awareness. And on lonely roads, I tend to ride by my perception of my own effort. Worrying over the numbers is for later, in front of a computer looking at the graphs!
Re:Portable lasers and bicycles (Score:2, Interesting)
The idea that a hud compromises situational awareness is somewhat naive. Yes, a poorly-design
Eyetap (Score:1)
"I am Steve Mann of Borg..."
Re:Portable lasers and bicycles (Score:1)
Resist the urge to mount stuff on your helmet (Score:5, Insightful)
Somebody recently mentioned a guy they know who has mounted a PVC pipe sticking straight up to the top of his hemlet as a light mounting point. Should he get in an accident with an impact on the top of his head, the coroner is going to have a great brain core sample to look at.
Re:Resist the urge to mount stuff on your helmet (Score:2, Interesting)
Wearable Computing Mailing List (Score:2)
idea: tactile doppler radar helmet (Score:5, Interesting)
On topic, I'd recommend at most getting a decent Cats Eye cyclocomputer, maybe a GPS to go with. As someone who rides almost every day, please take this advice: when riding, just ride. Like the urban rider above, that fraction of a second is all-important. Displays, gadgets, heck even waterbottles are distractions. Work on improving your hearing instead, developing your brain and senses.
Stay safe on the road,
Josh
Re:idea: tactile doppler radar helmet (Score:1)
The deal is you don't need to look at the display at all, just wait 'till you get home and dump it onto your pc. Overlay your route over your favorite topo or street map. It makes it neat little graph with you speed displayed as either speed or pace.
As far as just getting where you're going, you're better off not knowing - think a
I don't know about you ... (Score:2)
A handlebar-mounted cyclo-computer is fine because it's just there.
Having a HUD while cycling just seems silly to me.
Besides, when riding down a flight of stairs, I don't want anything to block my vision. =)
uh whats the point? (Score:1)