Planet Arduino

Turn signals are becoming more and more popular with cyclists. So it’s no surprise that we’re seeing more and more Arduino projects that give people the tools they need to ride safely on our busy roads.

Motorized Turn Signals

The first question you might ask about Tom Ouwerkerk’s latest Arduino project is why it’s motorized. His objective was to make a turn signal unit that’s as compact as possible. When you consider the amount of space you have on a bicycle frame, it makes a lot of sense.

His solution was to use two 8-LED Neopixel strips, side-by-side. The small housing they’re mounted in has a servo that’s driven by an Arduino Uno. The servo slides the LED strips side to side as Tom make a turn signal.

The LEDs run in the turn direction to add a bit of movement to the signal as they slide to the side. It’s a great way to draw a bit of extra attention to the lights from the vehicles behind. This means the LED strips return to the center position to work as a break light when not turning. All of this in a 3D printed unit that’s no wider than the bicycle’s saddle. So you’re not going to kick (and break) as you get on and off.

3D Printing Practice

As much as a turn signal project, this was a 3D printing design project for Tom. He was experimenting with creating herringbone gears, which transfer power smoothly with excellent torque. But creating the chevron pattern is tricky, due to the precision required.

Clearly Tom nailed it, though. You can see from the video of his turn signal project that the servo is moving the LEDs easily and smoothly.

We’d be interested in seeing the controls Tom’s using, too. Presumably handlebar mounted switches or buttons for the turn signals and brakes. It’d also be interesting to know if it’s something that can run from batteries and a dynamo.

The post Super Compact Motorized Turn Signals for a Bike appeared first on Arduino Blog.

Natasha (AKA TechnoChic) is a member of a bicycle club that goes for rides at night during the summer, and while off-the-shelf lights are fine, she wanted something a bit more interesting. To accomplish this, while learning more about the technologies involved, she decided to equip her bike with an array of addressable LEDs.

The bike frame’s NeoPixels run on an Arduino Nano 33 IoT, which is connected to a boombox via a 3.5mm jack that enables the LEDs to react to the music. Two other Nano 33 IoT boards are used to drive the lights on each of the wheels, with the eventual goal of linking them wirelessly for central control. The system is powered by a 10,000mAh battery pack along with a pair of 2000mAh LiPos for the wheels to keep things glowing for several hours.

More details on the project are available in TechnoChic’s tutorial here.

Having a light on your bike at night is important for safety, but what if those headlights could talk to others sharing the road with you? Well now it can, using the [Bike] Swarm by Alex Berke, Thomas Sanchez, and Kent Larson from the MIT Media Lab.

Their device—or collection of devices—controls a bicycle’s lighting via an Arduino and LED driver, and features an nRF24L01 wireless module to communicate with others in the vicinity. When another rider is encountered, the bikes sync their lights up automatically. 

The team has already designed and fabricated prototypes, then strapped them onto local city bike share program bikes for testing. 

It’s an interesting effect when two bikes pass, but as shown in the video below, things get much more fascinating when a handful of bikes can coordinate both their direction and light pattern.

As bikes navigate city streets after dark, they are often equipped with lights. The lights make the bikes visible to cars or other bikers, and the hazards of traffic less dangerous.

Imagine that as solitary bikes come together, their lights begin to pulsate at the same cadence. The bikers may not know each other, or may only be passing each other briefly, but for the moments they are together, their lights synchronize. The effect is a visually united presence, as groups of bikes illuminate themselves with a gently pulsing, collective light source.