Are you a keen bicyclist and a tech geek? Do you dig the movie Tron more than is probably healthy? If the answer to these questions is yes, your world is about to get a whole lot cooler.
Project Aura is a bicycle lighting system designed to asist in safety during night riding. It comprises two rim-mounted LEDs that change colour based on how fast you ride - going from red ('slow speeds') to white ('cruising speeds'). In addition to reducing your chances of becoming nocturnal roadkill, the LEDs also make you look like you're riding a light cycle from the movie Tron.
Project Aura in action.
Unlike regular bike lights, Project Aura provide high visibility from all angles; not just from the front and back. This is particularly handy when approaching traffic junctions and other conditions where cars are approaching side-on. The colour-changing LEDs also provide a visual indicator of the cyclist's intentions (i.e. - a shift to red lets the driver know you are slowing down, for example).
"We accomplished this by expanding the surface area of light emitted through the use of RGB LEDs inside the rims of the wheels that change from red when slowing down to white when at cruising speed," explains the Project Aura press release. "By illuminating the form of the wheels, we hope to increase the overall presence of the bicycle from all directions and create a more intuitive and recognizable form."
Project Aura can also be used to light your abode during impromptu house raves.
The press release goes into worrying detail about the likelihood of being killed by a car at night, complete with statistical graphs and data. ("If at any point during this sequence a driver or biker does not successfully accomplish one of the tasks, a collision occurs," explains the accompanying blurb.)
Personally, we don't think Project Aura needs to scare people into buying their product. Instead, they should just focus on the Tron connection. Tron!
You can check out a fancy video of the Project Aura LEDs in action below (warning: clip contains some decidedly dodgy eletronica):