LEDA 
an interactive biking light

supervised by andré kabella and benjamin maus.

goal of this project is creating an assistent for our sensory perception helping in everyday situations. more specifically, this device increases cyclist's visibility on the streets at night. many road accidents happen while changing directions, thus LEDA lights up everytime a cyclist turns in traffic - like cars do. the concept was realized working with sensor technology and arduino soft- and hardware.

the storyboard shows the device's behavior when turning in traffic: lift your arm and sharply twist your wrist to activate the LEDs. keep your arm lifted as you turn, then twist your wrist again to deactivte the LEDs. 

getting to know the arduino products was exciting. many experiments had been done before deciding on a set of sensor, processor and actuator to work together and start teaching the device its behavior. the device was designed with user's needs and technical requirements in mind and results in a useful, simple, yet aesthetically appealing product.

eight lids diffuse the light beaming from the LED strip. the lids were 3D printed, holes were cut into a nylon strap that sits on top of the lids using a laser cutter. the sensor, microprocessor and LED strip were soldered together and sewn-in with the textiles. finally, the product was tested and slight adjustments were made to the code to finish the prototype.

© 2023 Judith Zbanek