Prototyping
Bicycle light
The bicycle light was the part of the final design that was possible to make in the workshop. The bicycle light is mounted on the steering wheel and has a light-intensity sensor on top that regulates the intensity of the light.
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The camera/light is made out of XPS foam and the camera is painted on the foam block with a glass plate on top. This camera was not possible to include in the prototype, since it is expensive and requires a smart AI.
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The light is glued on the front, slightly tilted down, so that the light would shine on the ground in front of the bicycle.
Electronics
The electronics of the adjustable bicycle light consists out of:
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Arduino Nano:
The Arduino nano functions as the programmable brain for the electronics. It takes the input from the sensors, and controls the dimming of the LED accordingly.
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Light Dependent Resistor:
To sense the surrounding light, and LDR is applied. Placing this component combined with another resistor, a voltage divider is created from which the voltage can be measured by an analog input of the Arduino. This voltage changes based on the surrounding light and thus resistance of the LDR.
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100kΩ Resistor:
This resistor is added to create the voltage divider.
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Bright LED:
Since the goal of this part of the prototype is to generate light, a light source is required. To achieve this, a bright LED panel was removed from a store-bought mini floodlight.
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Transistor (BS170):
To dim this LED, a transistor is added between the Arduino and the LED. This way, the amount of power that flows through the LED can be controlled.
