Logo Drafts

Hi everyone,

I also made up my mind for some logo ideas. From top to bottom is teh actual working flow, so I don´t really like the first sketches. The ones in the red circles are my favourites. What do u think?

@ Jenny: Your logo reminds very much to "itunes" - It´s not like their logo but the way it is written in only small letters...

greetz

First Logo Ideas

We also tought about »The Right Turn« / »Turn Right«/ »Clever Turn« and still »The Intelligent Intersection«.

Answering Monica/Rob's Group

cameras are observing the intersection (position doesn't matter)

like in this video http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=b88yD-02ANY
a software can track the position of cars and pedestrians.

with an infrared camera this also works at night:
http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=bQPUzPXKRuU

different temperatures let the system know wether it's a car or human

the software calculates the exact position of all road users and decides on a lighting scenario

Terminology

Hi,

I just started to sum up our last results and giving names to all our three light solutions. With those terms it will be easier to make clear argumentation all refeering to the same names.

greetz

Monica/Rob's Group

Hi Lauren,

As we are approaching the end I think it is important that we clarify
the interaction between our two projects. I remember your group
having a "pedestrian finder" sensor for the pedestrians. How does
this work? Were you planning to embed existing structures with this
technology? Is it supposed to be in the signal?
-What types of symbols are you using, if any at all?

And anything else you can think of that would interact with our signal
lighting. If you can't explain in email then me you and Rob can talk
about it at school this week before Friday.

-Hope your break was good

Skype Conclusions

We concluded that zebra stripes are not in every intersection in Europe and therefore is more of a device that gives the pedestrian a permanent-right-of-way where ever they are placed.  Therefore, after discussion, we think they should only appear when the Pedestrian is crossing on a green light, and are triggered by the pedestrian.  No pedestrian, no crosswalk.

The zebra stripes will function as a sudden visual warning to the driver as they will appear only the moment a pedestrian is about to cross.

We decided to keep the tracking sensors from about 100-150ft of the intersection.

There are some ethical issues with our current Phase 3 solution of red zebra stripes facilitating the pedestrian across. We are thinking of ways that will prevent the pedestrian from crossing the street when it is no his right of way.

For this Sundays meeting, proposals of :

1.  how the Phase 1 works, ie. sensor placement, how fast they blink...

2. Phase 3 solutions that discourage the pedestrian from crossing when it is not his/her right

3. Phase 2 details of how the overhead lights are fixed.  Directional lights, spotlights, lights that follow pedestrians... etc.

Next Skype Meeting

Sunday Nov 30 at 4:00 pm (22:00)

Scenario of Phase Three

School Zone LED/Pedestrian Safety/Disappearing

School Zone is a concept crosswalk designed specifically for school zones but has amazing potential for other uses. The system changes several key elements to existing crosswalks promising safety for both pedestrians and drivers.

School Zone comes in a series of elevated slabs to fit any length road. The raised level ensures drivers see children as they cross and also acts as a speed bump forcing them to slow down or risk damaging their vehicles. The elevation also has an added benefit since it meets the exact height of the curb - wheelchairs can cross with ease.

Each slab has a set of illuminated LEDs that work in tandem to direct foot traffic. They time themselves to pre-existing crosswalk signals and turn off one by one indicating time is running out. The system can also run independently if no crosswalk exists.

The prefabricated nature of the system means it can be manufactured to the highest of standards and installed anywhere. You can take it a step further and create temporary crosswalks for special events like concerts and outdoor festivals.

Designer: Seungkyun Woo

LED Tiles

Conclusions - Meeting on Friday with Lyn & the Class

We presented two concepts today to the class. The first idea was the animation we agreed on and looked at during Monday's Skype meeting. The second concept was created as an addition to the first concept. I have posted the to the blog in in three parts listed as Phase A, B, and C of Phase 3. The class and Lyn agreed that this strengthened our concept as a whole.

Lyn further recommended that we shorten the first phase, and replace the third phase with concept 2.

We propose as a finial concept…

• Combining idea one and two
• Blinking street lights – cutting down on length
• Replacing the third phase with concept 2
• Linking cars turn signal to intelligent intersection
• Energy – solar power Lights - LED Tiles
• Detection – blob detection

What next…

• Look back grab necessary information for presentation
• Refine our problem and such, terminology Phases, etc
• Refine our program – figure out method to defend our idea
• Create new diagram to explain tiles
• Final Animation that includes traffic signals and more pedestrians, cars, etc

Idea Two: Phase C of Phase Three

#4 : When the pedestrians time is up, the crosswalk will begin to disappear again , starting from the inside to the outside at pedestrian walking speed. This will serve as an indicator to the pedestrian how much time they have left to cross the street.

Idea Two: Phase B of Phase Three

#3 : when a car is making a turn they will trigger the intelligent intersection (turn signal/GPS). The turn signal will activate the crosswalk red where they intend to cross. Warning the pedestrian of the drivers intentions and also warning the driver that they a crossing a "pedestrian zone" and to cross with caution.

Idea Two: Phase A of Phase Three

# 1: when the pedestrian has the right-of-way a white zebra-strip crosswalk will appear. Materials: the crosswalk will be LED/fiber-optic tiles (solar-powered)
The tiles will not only give the pedestrian the right-of-way, it will also light-up the pedestrian at night.

#2: When the pedestrian does not have the right of way and walks into the intersection three red lines will guide him to the other side. They act as a buffer and a visual representation to drivers. But also, by only having three lines it does not encourage others to act with him.

Concept-Board Proposal for Sunday

Way of argumentation

1. Problem:

a.) Accidents mostly happen at intersections (ref. to Jennis statstics)

b.) And also on right front side of the car (ref. to Kristinas statstics)

Quintessence: Somebody has to be warned in thsi situation!


Why is the intersection so dangerous:
a.) The driver forgets the view over the shoulder and in the mirror

b.) The pedestrian is hard to see (because of bad weather, obstackles in the line of sight, dark clothes, etc.)

c.) Missinterpretation of the whole situation because of distractions (e.g. smoking, cellphone, stress, other people in the car, etc.)


2. Intention:

a.) Anticipatin warning system, which informs the driver about
what is going to haben in near future

b.) Making it easier to see and realize pedestrians in danger zones

c.) Final warning system right before a possible crash for avoidance

---> Development of an intelligent Intersection


3. Concept:

"3-phases detect and warning intersection"

1. Phase:
Lights in the middle of the road on the ground will show the driver the position of pedestrians, who will eventually arrive at the intersection at the same time like the car. Photo electric sensor in the pavement will collect the information and directly sned it to the lights on the ground. Those lights are "warning lights" - no shining lights.

2. Phase:
Over head lights at the corners of the intersection sart getting brighter if a pedestrian is approaching the intersection. The driver now knows that there are pedestrians coming up at the intersection by ralizing the brighter light and he will also have a better view at the whole intersection - ecspecially at night.

3. Phase:
If phase 1 and 2 weren´t enough warning for the driver and he is still not recognizing pedestrians who are crossing the street, the enlighted zebra stripe will warn him in a last step. The red lights aren´t not only indicating some kind of danger by their color, they also indicate the directions from where pedestrians are crossing the street.

Crossing Light

http://kisd.de/~tobi/philips/week11or12/

Selective Street Lighting

The street light is located in the middle of the lane. The intention of the light is to shine inside the street (for instance out of parking cars) and backward in a broader distance – so the driver of the car should recognize the car altought an additional car drives forward him/her.

STOP! I was wrong...

...at least a little bit ;)

Tobi wrote me an email (unfortunately in german) where he cleared up my mind and told me again the strenght of our concept using only the enviroment and not the inside of a car.

The strenght in our sytem is that it owrks by itself. It doesn´t matter, what techniques is inside teh car. And if we would let the crossroad comunicate with the car, then we could also say, that the car not only warns the driver but directly controlls the car. But that is something we don´t want to have. We want an intelligent intersection and we are gonna make it!

So just forget my "some thoughts" and I apologize for confusing you...

cya on monday

Friday Meeting

The next class meeting will be Sunday in which we should have a nearly finalized idea to share with the class. After considering Andy's comments on our current progress we have decided to add a windshield component to the "intelligent intersection" system that is underway. We now need to refine how these two components work together, suggesting that we work with Flux's group.

Lauren and Jenny will research further blob-detection and the materiality of this project.

Tobi, the new diagram is really insightful and suggested some really great ideas. We are thinking to do away with the zebra stripes as your diagram suggests and reduce the signage to single lines. Also, is it possible to light up the pedestrian as he or she crosses?

We will discuss everything further Monday.

Some Thoughts

Hi,

this time I can´t come up with a diagram or new picture because I don´t really have a good idea. The last critique on the curb-lights was the problem with the visibility. Trying to find better solutions I always come to the point, that having this kind of warning system inside the car (the position indicator of the pestrians at the sidewalk) and even on the windshield could be working better. There are several reasons for this:

Why not outside:

1. Putting light not on the sidewalk but somewhere else, where it is better to see, could also affect other drivers, who don´t want to turn. They shouldn´t see those lights.

2. Not only parking cars could be in the line of sight but also other driving cars.

3. A lighting system "outside" is good at night, but is difficult at daytimes.

4. The driver already has to pay attention to so many other things in the enviroment (lighst, sogns, cars, etc.) that one thing more is making the situation even more complicated.


Why inside:

1. The driver iss always looking "through" the windshield, so he´s also looking "at" the windshield. Why not putting an importent Information at a spot, where he´s is looking at anyways?

2. Having such a system inside a car can filter the information from outside for each driver speciffically and individually.

3. If you don´t want to make a turn, the system is off and you can focus on other traffic actions.

4. You could even use other signals like sound for example, to indiacate a dangerous situation.



Referring to Tobis 2nd Animation:

- Making the corner lights brighter, when a pedestrian is approaching the crosswalk iss good, but not working at daytime.

- The lights on the sidewalks are ok, but what happens, if you have somebody driving in front of you?

- What happens at the Zebra-stripe, when people are coming from both directions? And do we need the signal there or is it allready to late?


I think the solution for our problem is somewhere between Tobis Animation and an additional warning system inside the car. And I also think, that it is no problem, that Ozs Group is also working on the Windshield: As I understood, they are working on a HUD which tells the driver a lot of general Information via the Windshield.

Please don´t get me wrong: I liked all our ideas till now, but I am just a little bit concerned If we are moving totally the right way.

Just some thoughts...

Greetz andy

For class: making a model

Intelligent Intersection Update

http://kisd.de/~tobi/philips/week11/

Fridays Meeting (Design and Technology)

We met with two professor's of Design and Technology (DT) and walked in on a demonstration. They have a program that is projected onto a floor pad about 12' x 12' ft2. The floor is equipped with infrared lighting and motion sensing cameras. The minicar senses darkness against the white pad and tracks it shape.

We would like to use a similar technology using Computer Vision/ Blob Detection to recognize shapes in the intersection to trigger the interactive crosswalk.

Hopefully we will be able to animate all this in After Effects...

The DT guys also said the fiber optics embedded with LEDs in asphalt is feasible so we will research how this would work.
Andreas, the only critique we had for the curb and arrows idea is that if a cars are parked next to the curb, it won't be seen. As usual, your presentation was very beautiful and you are very skilled with diagramming. We would like to further develop the idea of bathing the pedestrians aproaching the curb with light, perhaps tracking the pedestrians with a spot-light? or tracking them with intense light, like Jenny S's diagram?

Direction we are heading:

-Interactive crosswalks
-Lighting up the pedestrians
-LED's and fiber optics
-Computer Vision/Blob detection

For next week, lets refine these ideas. We have 4 weeks to go and we are surprisingly right on schedule.

Spreadable OLED's

www.engadget.com

1. This could either be spread or "painted" on virtually any surface, leaving an OLED screen that would be just 100nm thick.
2. At would also double as a solar panel that'd keep the OLEDs powered, something that's apparently possible due to the "similar, but opposite, principles" that OLEDs and solar cells work on.
3. Researchers from Sumitomo Chemical and Mitsubishi Chemical are aiming to have usable prototypes ready within the next two years.

Fiber Optic Sources

Bellow are company sites that Lyn sent us, they are dealing with fiber optics. Jenny and I will look at these sites on Friday in class, and try to purchase some materials to begin working with. We will also be meeting with Thai today.

the Fiber Optic Store
thefiberopticstore.com
Supplier of clear fiber optic filaments in spools.

Oakridge Hobbies
oakridgehobbies.com
Excellent resource for clear and fluorescent fiber optics, acrylic sheets
and rods.

Plastecs company
plastecs.com
Retailer of inexpensive fiber optics and fiber optic kits.

Curbstone Direction Lights

Hi,

the following picture shows a possible concept of curb embedded lights, which are telling the direction of pedestrians detected by our sensor-system. The light shape is like an arrow to describe the direction but it is also possible to indicate the direction by a sequence.

greetz

4-Way-Detection

Hi,

sorry again for the late input. Finally I tried to concentrate on the different directions from where pedetrians can approach an intersection. I developed an idea dealing with the problem relating to our tasks from last week.
I have to admid, that now after reviewing this solution, I found some problems with this idea: If only one light is on, you don´t have any relation to which direction this light belongs. For me, signaling the direction, was one major fact in anticipating what will happen at the intersetcion. Hopefully we get to discuss about this in out Skype-Meeting this evening!

cya

Feedback for Tobi

The entire class was impressed with your motion graphic capability and it really expressed the points we were trying to emphasize with the anticipation and warning for the driver. We especially like the idea of the street lamps intensifying when pedestrians approach and are on the curb. Although the bright red warning lights can be a little confusing. What happens when people are on all 4 points of the intersection. Does the whole intersection become a flashing juncture? Perhaps the warning light can be applied to only one side of the intersection... notify right-turning cars only.

Also, the pedestrian tracking lights, would they be embedded in the road? Or applied to the curb? It might not be a good idea to apply this to the road, it may imply another lane, and could be confusing. We think you have the best way of communicate the dynamics of the intersection so far, perhaps we can now add in really specific scenarios. We could add traffic signals and cross walks. We can discuss this on Monday.

Lynn really like our idea of embedded LEDs so perhaps we can still integrate this in or final concept. Perhaps the tracking lights are embedded... and the crosswalks? In anycase, we have lots to talk about which is good. Great interactive diagram!

Talk to you Monday. Jenny S, we didnt get a chance to discuss yours yet because we communicated with Lynn through skype and didn't see your posting until afterwards. But we will look at it next.

additional feature of the intuitive street lighting

The color of the light could send the driver an additional information.
It shows in a intuitive way the driver the number of pedestrians –
this could help the driver to estimate the situation better
before he/she enters the danger situation.

yellow = 1-5 pedestrians
red = more than 5 pedestrians


















The same should be expressed by the light intensity.

DT Contact - Thai Le

I met with Thai Le this week, he is a student in the design technology (DT) department. He seemed very willing to help us out and help answer our questions throughout the project. One of the projects he is working on now is very similar to our project.

Next week Jenny and I will meet with him, he has agreed to show us the DT department and introduce us to a teacher that could also help us. We will also look at the lab they have upstairs.

Intelligent Intersections - Tobi

http://kisd.de/~tobi/philips/intelligent_intersection/

Sorry for Delay

Hi,

I just wanted to say, that I was having a really intense shortterm project this week which took me almost every day from morning till midnight to work. It ended today so I will pu my concept on the blog this weekend...

sorry

Image on Another Group's Blog

Skype Meeting Conclusions

Today we discussed sensory techniques and materiality.  We determined the using CAMERAS would be the most effective way of tracking pedestrians.  

For materials, we feel the most efficient way would be the use of of FIBER OPTICS and LEDs.  This will minimize the use of energy and can be used in conjunction with a computer interface.

We determined that it is necessary to warn the driver by using this signage the behavior of the pedestrian before they arrive at the intersection.  We still need to determine how far in terms of distance and time the driver needs to know.

This week we will come up with 1 or 2 concepts of how the driver is alerted.  Some methods to consider:

Flashing Lights 

Color Gradients

Intensity Gradients

Animation

We also want to consider this application going beyond the intersection and along the sidewalks that lead up to the curb.  Concepts will be up on the blog by Friday's meeting.

Pedestrian Recognition - Skype

http://kisd.de/~tobi/sensors/

research

Fiday's Conclusions

Lauren and I went to the materials library and discussed with Heather some really interesting light embedding ideas. She suggested using fiber optics, because it is really efficient in channeling light sources and together with LEDS, they would be even more so efficient.

Fiber optic bundles can be threaded into asphault emitting light from an LED source, emitting minimal heat and lasts for a really long time.

It is possible to come up with an interactive computer interface that responds to external stimulation that translates to lighting. I took a digital architecture course last semester that dealt with this kind of relationship so I know it can be done... although I don't know if I could come up with the code that would drive such a device.

Some questions we haven't answered are how are the lights sensored? It should be solar powered? How do we configure the graphics? What colors do we use?

Philips Lumalive/Philips Interactive Lights/Philips Living Colors

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEpwZgg1uxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZfIgdIgXDk&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd99gyE4jCk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxc0AAElJTU&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Cz144-qyQ&feature=related

Projection System

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgrGjJUBF_I

A demonstration video of a technique used to automatically discover the locations of surfaces in the projection area using embedded light sensors.

Project by: Johnny Chung Lee - Carnegie Mellon University, 2003.

Project for: Mitsubishi Electronic Research Labs

solor embedded lights

Solar Cynergy’s new line of solar LED lights is an eco-friendly, reliable and smart alternative to traditional street lights and home garden lights. Run entirely on solar energy, there’s no battery or complicated wiring involved, simply place the unit in a sunlit area and you can use the sun’s rays to light up anything from your front yard and drive way to dangerous intersections and crosswalks



The solar unit charges during the day and turns on automatically at dusk. A single day of weak sunlight is enough to provide lighting for several days. The lights come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors for residential, commercial and city applications. The lights are weather resilient (working conditions –4 to 158º F), durable enough to be driven on and if that’s not enough, they come with a 10-year warranty and an expected lifetime of 25+ years.
A six-pack of round halogen white lights retails for $699.99 on SmartHome.com
$699.99 from SmartHome

check out their webpage: http://www.solarcynergy.com/Solar-LED-Lights-Products.html

Concept 1 - lauren

Light (cement) ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3lZhFk-3tQ

I need to research this material a bit more, It does not look structurally sound.

Skype Meeting Conclusions (Oct 20th)

Jenni, Tobi, Andreas - research pedestrian recognition (translation to car) technology

Lauren, Jenny - research lighting materials and technology

MONICA, MEL, ROB, SAM, & SANDRA's TOPIC

OUR TOPIC:

URBAN INTERSECTION SIGNALING SYSTEMS FOR PEDESTRIANS
PROBLEM—pedestrians get hurt at intersections because the signaling system is inadequate. We have begun to explore pedestrian-centered signaling systems that highten pedestrian awareness as well as car awareness, express intersection timing, and influence pedestrian behavior.
Please visit our blog to see factors as there are too many to list here.

MONICA, MEL, ROB, SAM, SANDRA

Optional Meetings on Friday

BIG SKYPE MEETING!!! October 24!
Hey guys, please email this to your KISD students about having an all inclusive skype meeting next Friday during class. Also, don't forget to do a short writup about your topic and posting it on the main blog for everyone. We should all communicate throughout this week about what the German students think about time.

-Monica


Dear KISD students,

Recently we have come to understand that this project is of different levels of importance for the Parsons students compared to the KISD students. While this is our core class and we have a lot of expectations and guidance from Lyn we know that KISD is bascically on their own as you no longer meet with Wolfgang.

We have found that it has been extremely helpful when we meet once a week with the entire class to see what everyone is doing. Last week we narrowed down everyones topics to prevent overlap and complete a system.

In order to bring KiSD up to the same level of understanding with everyones projects we would like to have a skype meeting next Friday during our class from 12-4 with anyone in the KISD class who would like to discuss everything. We think this would be very helpful for understanding everything going on in this project. Let your Parsons group members know when a good time would be for anyone wanting to participate.

Feedback

Tobi: Bathing the pedestrians at the curb is a good idea. Your image of the person stepping on the panels that light up suggests interactivity with the lighting the sidewalk is also great.

Andreas: We agree that the driver needs to be alerted as to where the pedestrians are in an oncoming intersection and perhaps we can integrate this idea in the design. Tracking the pedestrians on to the windshield is being explored in Flux's group so we are hesitant to go in that direction. We would like to retain the idea of tracking the pedestrians.

Jenni: Encasing the pedestrian in a bubble of light is great for increasing the visibility of the pedestrians, especially at night. The materiality that your concept suggests is really interesting. It would need some kind of embedded lighting that we could look into.

Lauren: The mapping of the pedestrian's zones vs the drivers zone gave us an interesting perspective of the intersection. It expands the territory of the pedestrians and shows it goes beyond the existing parameters. It also brings up the question whether the existing zones are good enough for the actual behavior of the pedestrians crossing. Lighting up these pedestrian zones is a good way to alert the drivers where pedestrians will cross.

Jenny: The idea of making the crosswalks interactive and changing according to what is going on in the intersection is good. The class felt it integrates everyone's idea so far and is cohesive with the other groups designs. We felt that this might be an good direction to go because it poses exploration into new lighting materials, such as imbedded fiber optics, translucsent concrete, and light defracting color pigments and resonance with light diffusing pigments. It also refers back to everybody's design proposals so far.


Lyn and the class were enthusiastic about the idea of interactive crosswalks. How do you guys feel about this? It incorporates alot of our ideas so far. If you do then we can start designing how this would work. Lauren and Jenny can go to the materials library and start thinking about how this could be applied.

Interactive Zebra Stripes

I am proposing Zebra Stripes that light up according to the behavior of the pedestrians. They alert the driver the intentions of the pedestrians and how they will cross in an intersection. When they are waiting to cross within the intersection, red zebra stripes will light, alerting the drivers that the pedestrians are in the intersection. The cross walks disappear when the "don't walk" sign appears and the pedestrians are unfacilitated to cross.

Concepst of Tobi

http://kisd.de/~tobi/philips/week8/

http://kisd.de/~tobi/philips/week8/floor.jpg

Lauren Concept 4

During Red Light the road somehow slows down car to intersection.

Promotes Safety: cars are less likely to run red lights

Lauren Concept 3

Light up pedestrians not on the sidewalk.

Drivers can now see them.

Disney - The Future of Driving

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8jZtwRJnRs

fun video worth taking a look at.

ACTUAL Pedestrian Flow

Actual Pedestrian Flow - represented in red.

Please study this diagram. It is very important to the problem we are trying to solve.

Motion Tracking

In this concept I tried to develop some kind of pretelling system, which indicates a driver how many people are crossing an intersection when he is going to turn in there. It is neccessary to have some kind of detector and sender and there should be a way of making this situation feasable for the driver.

On the following screens you will see, how the detector might work and how this information could be told to the driver. Although we talked about, that we are trying to do something with the eviroment, for now I decided on a solution inside the car. I did so, because I think, outside a car is enough going on: There are other cars, pedestrians, bikes, signs, traffic lights and so on. So I wanted the signal to be realized very subconciously (ger: unterbewußt).

Concept 4 Jenni

Skype Conclusions (Oct 13)

two concepts each by Thursday evening.

Notes:

• language and medium
• lighting up streets
• another way of lighting to deal with pedestrians
• anticipation/forewarn
• driver needs to know

Pedestrian Behavior Mapping

I took some photos time lapse photos of an intersection from up high to observe pedestrians behavior in crossing a street. These photos are layered on top of each other. The red dots mark where pedestrians wait to cross and the green marks pedestrians crossing the street. These photos were taken about 1-2 sec apart. You can see that the pedestrian waiting area spreads far beyond the curb in urban areas.