I guess some of you already wrote off Useeme as a project that failed. To be honest, at some point we almost wrote it off too. Then we took a deep breath, and decided to keep working.
We gathered a new team of engineers to tackle the challenges all previous teams failed to solve. We needed a new, much more reliable hand signal detection algorhythm, and we needed proper electronics with viable battery consumption. About 3 months ago we reached an agreement with the new engineering team and they started working.
And what a good work they are doing:
- They created a proper, reliable, production-ready hand signal detection algorhythm.
- They rewrote the control algorythm of the LEDs, achieving very-very low energy consumption and still maintaining perfect visibility, even in bright daylight.
- They are at the moment designing the final version of the electronics with all the necessary sensors for the new hand signal detection algorhythm.
Here's what's done:
- Outer casing: ready for production.
- LED hardware: ready for production.
- Control software: ready for production.
Here's what's left to do:
- Final version of control hardware (ready for production in 2 months maximum, fingers crossed)
- Reliability testing
- Finalizing assembly line
- Serial production test runs
We expect to be production ready in October or November.
The final product will:
- Look great
- Reliably detect hand signals with any type of bike handle
- Feature extremely bright LEDs, visible from more than 50 meters even in direct sunlight
- Have rechargeable batteries
- Go at least 2 weeks on one charge
We just finished the first battery tests, it shows that almost 2 hours of continous flashing is achievable with one charge. (See the graph.)
Things start to look bright for Useeme. Please watch this space for updates.
Best,
Peter & the team