When riding a bicycle in traffic, visibility is of utmost importance. Trying to signal to car drivers, or even pedestrians, that you are going to turn is also a huge challenge, since blinkers are generally unavailable and hand signals may or may not be understood. Fortunately, if two wheels are your means of transportation, there’s a good chance you use a backpack, giving a good amount of space on which to display your intentions.
Meet the Arduibag, a “connected backpack for bike riders” that takes advantage of this real estate with an Adafruit 16×32 LED matrix driven by a Bluno (an ATmega328-based Arduino Uno-like board with Bluetooth) available from DFRobot. Riders signal the backpack via a small Bluetooth remote control to display graphics including a right turn signal, a left turn signal, and a message that says “MERCI!” The backpack can even be switched into a night mode, where it displays something – such as travel time, temperature, humidity, or forward-pointing triangles – at all times for visibility.
The project was the brainchild of two passionate French guys, Michaël D’AURIA and Stéphane DE GRAEVE, and was inspired by the SEIL (Safe Enjoy Interactive Light) backpack, which functions in a similar manner. Per the project’s website, you’re allowed to freely use all the information contained there, but you’re encouraged to contact them to share any improvements that you make! See it in action below!