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posted by janrinok on Sunday November 03 2019, @04:14AM   Printer-friendly
from the now-why-didn't-I-think-of-that? dept.

Submitted via IRC for soylent_yellow

14-Year-Old Genius Solves Blind Spots

Using some relatively inexpensive and readily available technology you can find at any well-stocked electronics store, Alaina Gassler, a 14-year-old inventor from West Grove, Pennsylvania, came up with a clever way to eliminate the blind spot created by the thick pillars on the side of a car's windshield.

Gassler's actually too young to have a driver's license in most states and has never experienced the frustration of trying to see around those pillars while driving, but that didn't stop her from tackling a problem that automakers have largely ignored. Her solution involves installing an outward-facing webcam on the outside of a vehicle's windshield pillar, and then projecting a live feed from that camera onto the inside of that pillar. Custom 3D-printed parts allowed her to perfectly align the projected image so that it seamlessly blends with what a driver sees through the passenger window and the windshield, essentially making the pillar invisible.

Her invention was part of a project called "Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots," which Gassler presented at this year's Society for Science and the Public's Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) science and engineering competition. (It's basically a next-level science fair minus the cheesy papier-mâché volcanoes.) Her ingenuity was enough to earn her the competition's top honor, the Samueli Foundation Prize, which also netted Gassler $25,000.

A YouTube video of this invention in use is available.


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  • (Score: 4, Disagree) by coolgopher on Sunday November 03 2019, @05:40AM

    by coolgopher (1157) on Sunday November 03 2019, @05:40AM (#915229)

    I was driving my dad's old Volvo 245 wagon some time ago. It was amazing. You can see EVERYTHING in all directions! Okay, it might not do quite as well in a roll test, but you know, the odds are a lot lower that I'll ever manage to roll a car than that I'll fail to see something because of obscuring pillars.

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