Satnav Research and help for my final Year. Please Read

[waseem4477]

Hello people, I was hoping you guys know a lot about motor bikes and could help me with my final uni year project. Basically, im looking at a new way of a rider communicating with there sat nav systems on bikes. I've heard that having the sat nav device mounted onto the tank of bikes is problem, because the rider has to put there head down to look at the device and something can come out in front of you and you would get knocked off and seriously injured. now i have an idea of what i want to do, but i just wanted your input and any ideas you may have, or if you think its a problem or not or if you think my idea is good (i want to look at having the sat nav information displayed on the riders visor attached to there helmet, using bluetooth to send audio directions to the rider. i need to creat a report on the problem areas have a couple of scenarios for this idea. I could do with some statistics or any other good information or any organisations i could contact. Im not a Bike rider my self, but im interested in doing this project.

Hope you guys can help thanks
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[The Artist]

Bluetooth thingy already exists. Fairly common.

I just use the sat nav on my phone with headphones. No need for a screen.

[waseem4477]

ah ok thanks, but where do you put your phone then? do you not find it annoying with your headphones as having your headphones in muffles surrounding sounds? you say no need for a screen, but is that because you use that route a lot, and you know it, or the instructions are very clear and easy to understand?

You may feel there silly questions but i can just use it all for research and put it in my report.

Thanks for your reply though.

[chris-red]

What I have thought would make as good project is a bluetooth remote control for a Phone/Music Player.


I often listen to music using my iPhone and a headset. I would love a unit that goes on my bike somewhere within reach and I can push buttons on it to do the following whilest riding.


Answer/hangup call.
Play/pause music.
Skip to Next track.
Volume Up/Down.

There are plenty of easier options for displaying a Satnav, I think having it on a Visor would be more dangerous than having it on a tank or on the handlbars.

However if you are set on the idea for displaying something on the visor. An instrument HUD would be a great idea. Displaying Speed/Revs/Gear. Maybe even engine lights/Fuel Light/indicators/Neutral light/Temperatures/Trip etc.

Would have to be customizable and not bulky.
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[weasley]

I mount mine above the instruments, easy to glance at and it will link by Bluetooth to wireless headphones.

You're right that mounting on the tank or in a tankbag does require a long look down, which is why I never went that route.

Putting it as a HUD will need a dedicated and permanently fixed screen, since a visor is constantly being opened and shut as speed and weather change (well, mine is).

I'm pretty sure this has been tackled as a project more than once before.
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[Nai]

To follow up Chris Reds suggestion (which is cool), my last helmet (V-Can V210 Bluetooth version) had a dial on the side. Volume up and down, press the dial in to stop or start music or whatever your listening too, and hold it in to turn it off. Dial was on the left side (clutch hand side) of the helmet.

Edit

Also for mounting the phone, get something like this for a push bike and mount it next to the dash.

Very Long Link

[chris-red]

[Bendy]

Most people put their sat nav on their bars so they don't need to look down nearly as much as if it were on the tank. There are all sorts of mounts available to let you do this.

Assuming you've got the audio hooked up, I don't find I actually need to look at it much anyway, the audio cues are sufficient. I might have a glimpse when I'm sat at a set of lights or whatever, but then I'm not a slave to sat nav (ie. I use it as an assistant, not as a replacement for my brain).

My sat nav also acts as music player and could do phonecalls if I wanted it to. Buttons right there within easy reach. It can do Bluetooth but I have it hooked up to Autocom because I prefer it. I don't find the audio a distraction at all and the autocom speakers in my lid still allow you to hear surrounding noises (eg. sirens), plus it has the bonus of adjusting the volume appropriately for the background noise.

I don't want or need stuff displayed on my visor. If you can't glance down for a second without risking an accident, you're going too fast / too close.

[G]

[waseem4477]

I Do like that idea Chris. I think it is an easier project than what im looking at. I only came across this idea as i had a few family friends and friends that ride motor bikes and told me that they would prefer an alternative to the satnav being attached to the tank or handle bars. I was thinking of having it as an attachment as i know people move there visors up and down and it would have to be a certain distance away from the riders eyes etc. A lot of ideas that i have thought about already exist which is hard, Im doing product design and a lot of people in the class are struggling to find projects to do, its a project that we do for the whole year and it has to keep us motivated.

Weasley I see what you mean. My lecturer seemed to like the idea as one of his friends died due to the problem of looking down at the satnav, as someone reversed out onto the road and he went straight into it.

At this stage its just all about research so i may change the whole idea that i have and possibly go and look at a different area with in bikes depending on what my research shows.

I really appreciate all your help guys
*If you have any other product design areas that you may think is a problem and how you think it could be made better then i may have to go down that route as you guys seem to be experienced riders, and telling me its a hard project or its not a good idea to go along with.

Thanks

[stinkwheel]

I'll give you the same reply I give everyone who comes on here looking to design an in-helmet head up display (roughly one every 6 months).

Until they can make a visor that is scratchproof and doesn't steam up at the slightest provocation, the concept of projecting any sort of display onto one is pretty laughable.

I suggest you put your design skills to work and come up with a motorcycle visor that would remain see-through after 20 miles on the A1(M) during a slightly damp and freezing December night.

I would pay a three figure sum for a visor I could leave down during a dark winter run that won't be almost instantly hazed over by a network of fine scratches from the salt. (I'm thinking some sort of flexible, toughened glass here).

TL;DR Design a visor that is fit for purpose, then consider putting bells and whistles on it.
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[Bendy]

[chris-red]

[waseem4477]

[Kickstart]

Hi

One concern for adding extra things to a helmet is the extra weight. Don't really want it to add to the momentum bouncing your head around and stressing your neck in an accident.

Also, helmets are very noisy at speed (ie, few years back one magazine tested a load with a microphone in the riders ear, 100mph on a bike on a test track - the quietest was 105db and the noisiest was 120db) which can limit audible instructions.

All the best

Keith
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[chris-red]

[D O G]

[G]

[waseem4477]

[waseem4477]

[Nick 50]

Can I ask what Degree you are doing.

From what I have read from your posts I think you are wanting to transfer the new fangled heads up display found in new cars and fit it to bikes for Sat Nav use. Personally I don't think it would be a good idea. A bikers vision is already quite restricted due to wearing a helmet so any HUD will further restrict the view or distract vision.

I like Chris-Red's idea. How about a bluetooth elasticated band that would fit over trousers and go on the left thigh. Using big labelled and raised buttons could be a possibility. Like a clearly outlined (by vision and touch) of say a tick (take call) and a cross (end call). For the others use the generally used symbols already being used for such functions.

[waseem4477]

[stinkwheel]

Design is a funny thing.

One of the best design engineers of all time was John Stapp. He was given a large grant and sent away by the American airforce to find a way of making air crashes more survivable because pilots were expensive to train.

He came back to them with the inertia reel car seatbelt and a recommendation that all airforce personel should have them fitted in their cars and their use made mandatory.

He'd gone away, crunched some numbers, found they were losing more pilots in car accidents than air crashes and came up with a solution for it. He fixed the problem, but not by the obvious route.

A lot of design these days seems to be over finding a piece of technology and looking about how you can adapt it for another use. Perhaps there should be more finding a problem, looking at what causes that problem and finding a solution to it.

Could the whole GPS issue be as simple as redesigning a helmet frontal view area so it is easier to see the thing in the first place? Or doing a user interface that can be worked with gloved fingers? .. Or teaching kids how to read a map?

My two long-time wants are a pair of truly waterproof gloves and a visor you can see out of even when it's cold and wet. I suspect cold, wet fingers and a lack of good forward visability are major contributing factors in a huge number of motorcycle accidents. A couple of companies have come very close with the gloves but they all leak eventually. Nobody has come close with the visor thing other than a couple of snowmobile helmets with electrically heated visors which can't be used in the UK because they don't let enough light through.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[P.]

Completely clear perspex style helmet, full view of everything around you.

Design away boy

[Im-a-Ridah]

Product design is like artish right? I've seen a motorbike HUD done at my last uni, but that was on an electronics degree and the requirements are completely different.

As to the design, I agree with what is said above. A screen is not required, and in any case a screen would partially obscure the riders view and may cause legal issues in an accident. Cheap satnavs give audio directions, you just need an amplifier or a headphone socket.