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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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 03 2019, @08:20AM (1 child)
Serious question, when have any pillars been a major problem?
Mirrors and head-checks for rear vision are meant to make this issue a non-issue? I know head-checks were a core of my driving training until convex mirrors and blindspot sensors became more common.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 04 2019, @01:08AM
It's not a major problem but a minor contributor to decreased vision. Having increased vision translates into greater situational awareness. This increase in vision means nothing when people drive so close behind other vehicles. It is common in America that people do not believe in maintaining a crash avoidance space in front of them.