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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: 2) by mendax on Sunday November 03 2019, @06:43AM (4 children)

    by mendax (2840) on Sunday November 03 2019, @06:43AM (#915243)

    This problem was solved years ago. It's called "convex mirrors." I put them on the mirrors of my little pickup truck and voilla! no more blind spot. Who needs modern technology?

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by MadTinfoilHatter on Sunday November 03 2019, @06:51AM (1 child)

    by MadTinfoilHatter (4635) on Sunday November 03 2019, @06:51AM (#915246)

    Please RTFS.

    a clever way to eliminate the blind spot created by the thick pillars on the side of a car's windshield.

    We're talking about a different blind spot here.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @03:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @03:38PM (#915350)

      I think the article is talking about the A pillar, the one on either side of the windshield. The convex mirror does a good job with the B pillar, the one behind the drivers door. Then there's the C pillar at the back, again a convex mirror helps.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday November 03 2019, @08:06AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Sunday November 03 2019, @08:06AM (#915259) Journal

    I'll point out that those convex mirrors take getting used to. And, the little ones most likely to be used on personal vehicles are especially hard to see things in. The big ones on commercial vehicles have pretty good value, but no one is going to hang those things on the family car. With some imaginative positioning, you MIGHT eliminate some or all of the pillar blind spot, but you would be creating an all new blind spot wherever you hang those mirrors. Sorry, but no.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:11AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @11:11AM (#915284)

    I reorient my mirrors so it's pointing outwards and doesn't point to the rear corners of my vehicle. The reason is I never need to see my rear corners when I'm driving on the road. Having the mirrors oriented this way means I have no blind spots and I don't need to turn my neck further than the side mirrors. Now this mirror orientation becomes a problem whenever I need to do some parallel parking or reverse parking. Fortunately, this isn't a problem for vehicles with rear view cameras.

    http://pages.cs.wisc.edu/~gdguo/driving/BlindSpot.htm [wisc.edu]