This Bicycle Helmet Reads Your Mind and Could Make Cycling in Your City Better
Biking in a city can be a little scary. Biking in a new city can be terrifying, which is why MIT Media Lab grad Arlene Ducao created MindRider, a brain-reading helmet to come along for the ride.
Strap on MindRider to mentally map out the streets and your experience while cruising them. The helmet is connected to a sensor that advertises your brain state in different colors using NeuroSky’s EEG system: the lights on your helmet are green if you’re calm and focused, yellow if slightly agitated, red when stressed and blinking red signals panic.
The helmets connect to a GPS system to auto-plot your brain state at different locations, developing Experience Maps for your ride that show red in “high attention” areas and blue in calmer zones. Although it’s cool to have all that info on your smartphone, you can also share it to show others in your city’s cycling community where their ride may be rough or easy.
Sure this means a safer and more mindfully mapped ride for you, but it could get wheels turning in a much bigger way. Urban planners can take the data from devices like MindRider to improve traffic and create safer streets for all riders, drivers and pedestrians.
So when can you get your head in a MindRider? The helmets aren’t for sale yet, but you can sign up on the site to get one this year to test out. Customize style, GPS embedded or synced with your smartphone and whether you want the brain-indicating lights to be visible.
Are you a cyclist? Would you take MindRider for a spin?
