Please give me your feedback on what I think is a life saving bicycle safety product.
I'm trying to raise money at this point with Kiva. Org so I need your input on what good perks would be in the crowdfunding campaign and I need you to pass it on if you think it's a good idea.
https://youtu.be/COTmBJaZTas
dcoles
2015-11-14 14:18:55
It could be a good idea, but here's a couple of things that potential investors might ask:
1) What is the advantage over a button activated solution (attached to the handlebar, next to your thumbs)? What's the competition out there?
2) What is your noise cancellation idea? Is it passive or active? What is the mic you're planning to use? There's a variety (of noise-cancelling) mics out there already. Are you going to source one of them? Actually you don't have to talk all about it. But you do need to have your own benchmarks (SNR reduction, WER). Are they better?
3) What is your ASR solution? Is it, e.g., a chip from Sensory? What is your hardware design? How will you accommodate recognition errors? If you have something already you should show it in your video.
4) What other value-add things could your device do? Particularly when combined with other services.
Have you considered pitching your idea to AlphaLab? This would provide you with ~3 months of support for prototype development along with general mentoring.
ahlir
2015-11-14 16:23:13
I think the idea is fine - if those issues Ahlir pointed out about your mic being able to function well in a noisy environment are solved. Unfortunately, there's already a helmet (with button activation) on the way that will have the jump on the market. I actually like the button option and in addition to an audible that confirms the signal lights are working, the button also provides a visual confirmation with a blinking light.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/819484536/lumos-a-next-generation-bicycle-helmet
Good luck. I'm happy to see lots of people looking for ways to improve our safety on the streets.
srpit
2015-11-14 17:56:39
I recommend you make a new video. The turn2safety video you shared has several problems: (1) poor audio mixing: music is too loud, voices are too soft/muffled, there are other strange noises (tweeting birds? a woman saying "what do you do?", and other voices), (2) shaky camera work, (3) no clear demonstration of the voice-activated signal system: we see the helmet blinking but we don't know how the rider is controlling the lights, and what feedback the rider has of what the helmet lights are doing.
paulheckbert
2015-11-14 19:34:16