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| Dean Reinke Deans' Stroke Musing |
Tell your therapist you want to test one of these out, although shifting gears is probably the least of our worries in trying to ride a bike, I would guess balance would be. And if it reads the motor cortex it won't work for people like me whose motor cortex is dead. Just a slight caveat/problem. Ring My Bell...
"It's just like riding a bike" takes on a whole new meaning with a concept bike from Parlee Cycles and Toyota. That's because this bike isn't like all the others: It possesses the power to read your mind.
Even though the bike looks completely normal, the headgear is a dead giveaway. Like something out of a sci-fi movie, the "neurohelmet" comes equipped with plastic "tentacles" and metal sensors that are oh-so-comfortably pressed against the cyclist's scalp.
With minimal training -- and perhaps a little sweet talking? -- a cyclist can shift the gears on the bike with just a thought. One type of brain wave instructs the bike to shift downward, while another type causes it to shift upward. It definitely takes some practice, so until your mental powers are refined, prepare to be tossed over the handlebars, steered into a giant pile of leaves or flung into the side of a parked car.
What's novel about this mind-reading bike, however, is not the technology itself, but the way all of the technologies have been mashed together. Here's the equation: a smartphone + a widely-available app (which monitors the rider's heart rate, pace, speed, brain waves, and even cycling habits) + some geeky-looking neuroheadsets (made by Neurosky and Emotiv) = 21st century tech wizardry.
And for this specific project, a lightweight laptop was slipped inside the back of the cyclist's jersey so that it could "talk" to the neuroheadset, the smart phone app, and the wiring inside the bike.
Rest assured, there is a built-in failsafe, too: If the brain waves are ever misinterpreted, the cyclist can switch a setting on the smart phone app to manually control the bike.
While this "PXP" design will not be sold on the market, "neurocontrollable" things -- including future bikes, gadgets and even prosthetics -- will likely become more commonplace. In fact, Parlee plans to release a new road bike in 2012 or 2013 inspired by the PXP design.
What the bike cannot do is read the minds of the motorists that pass by your two-wheeler on busy streets. But we all know what those minds are thinking.
See the original article:
Ring My Bell: New Bike Reads Your Mind
in Deans' Stroke Musing
The Toyota Prius X Parlee Concept Bike
Toyota reached out to Parlee Cycles and Deeplocal to build an aero-road bike imbued with the same forward-thinking that went into the design of the Prius. Benefiting from a monocoque carbon-fiber frame, built-in smartphone dock, countless wind-tunnel-tested aerodynamic tweaks and its unprecedented mind-powered shifter, the PXP concept bike has emerged as a purpose-built machine that blends the simple with the complex to become a better and more efficient version of itself.
Standard YouTube License @ ToyotaUSA
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