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Motorcycle Adaptive Headlight

I've also thought about this product for awhile. I just don't have the time or money to follow through. So let me give you my thoughts on it.

There is a patent for auto levelling moto headlights already out there for some guy in Livermore. It was filed back in the '90's. The way I figure you could bypass his patent is that his is an integrated headlight, and it looks like both of our ideas are for a suplimentary light system.

I think you are overcomplicating the design with that many axis. In my opinion, it will work very effectively, although not "perfect", by just rotating the bulb and "cut-off" shield in projector type housing. The trick of course, and you are making designs for it, is letting the system know where level is. The patent that's out there uses two electronic range finders to determine the proximity of the ground on either side of the bike. by using this info, a program should be able to determine any lean angle by simply measuring which range finder is closer to the ground, and by how much.

Back to the rotating housing.
At level, you have a basic beam pattern with a sharp horizontal cut-off. The bike leans, the cut-off point leans, and you the rider have to look 'up' into the turn of course, right? So it's natual to think the way to compensate is to aim the bulb 'up' too. But all you really need to do is keep the cut-off horizontal to our relatively level roads. The UP aiming will compensate a little for the fact that the light housings will be getting closer to the surface of the road. But that adds a lot of complexity, and cost, to the design for relatively small gains. Further, you can even somewhat compensate for this by having the single action system slightly 'overcompensate' for the lean, which would then skew the leading edge of the light pattern up, and also drop the trailing edge down.


You make it a wide 'fog light' type pattern, and with just one mechanical action, and you've drastically improved the lighting in a turn while keeping the design simple (less parts to break) and affordable.

that's my version of the idea. I think it's long past time for this product, and personally, I think you'd make a ton of sales if you package and price it well enough.
 
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Very good info.

Charles R said:
So it's natual to think the way to compensate is to aim the bulb 'up' too. But all you really need to do is keep the cut-off horizontal to our relatively level roads. The UP aiming will compensate a little for the fact that the light housings will be getting closer to the surface of the road. But that adds a lot of complexity, and cost, to the design for relatively small gains. Further, you can even somewhat compensate for this by having the single action system slightly 'overcompensate' for the lean, which would then skew the leading edge of the light pattern up, and also drop the trailing edge down.
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I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around this part. Specifically the part about not needing to aim the headlight upwards. Care to go into it some more? I've had great success with my dual headlight motorcycles by aiming the lights up and in a cross-eyed fashion. With the 'up' part showing the greatest benefit.
 
I guess the easiest way to picture it is something like this...

Stand up (or sit, doesn't matter too much) and put your arm out in front of you. bend it so your forearm goes straight across your vision at eye level.

Your eyes are the light source. Fixed and glaring straight ahead, as they are mounted solidly to the bike. Your arm is the threshold of the beam cutoff. Everything below your arm is bathed in light. Everything above, darkness. Don't turn your head as you try these things. This simulates lights mounted to the body of the bike, not the forks. This design prefers not being mounted to steering components. As the picture becomes clearer, you'll figure out why.

The floor is the road, and you can imagine a turn there.

For typical moto lights, OEM as well as aux lights, the angle of your arm is directly linked to eyes. So for this example, if you lean your head you must also lean your arm an equal amount in the same direction to match. (remember, everything 'above' your arm is dark)

With the floor being our road, you can quickly see how this creates the same kind of blind areas we get on our bikes.

Now... re-level your eyes and arm.
Next... Do nothing more than tilt your head (bike leans) but keep your arm level with the floor. (and centered between your eyes. This is desired result of the rotation of the bulb mechanism) Everything below your arm is still awash in light.
Now go ahead and take this moment to shift your eyes "up", as this would be where you would be looking as the rider. While there is some elevation changes in roadways, most are not too drastic, so our level floor is still a decent representation. I think you'll find pretty much all of the important area, is now located below your arm, bathed in light.

You can shift from a standing position, to a sitting one, for an exxagerated version of the headlights getting lower as the bike leans aggresively. but the key is to keep your extended arm centered between your eyes. That's the center pivot point that the bulb and beam pattern sheild would create.

With the 'overcompensation' bit, as you lean your head to the side, all you need to do is slightly shift your arm off level in the oposite direction to simulate that effect.

Easier to picture it now?
 
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sounds like yet more uses for the wiimote hardware! is there any hacking project the wii can't do? :)

Dr. Evil said:
Two-axis servo system and accelerometer. Three, if you want to get really fancy and keep the road lit while the rider is doing standup wheelies... :teeth
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Enchanter said:
To effectively illuminate the road ahead of a motorcycle in a turn (motorcycle leaning), the headlight should be aimed upwards (in relation to the motorcycle) and not actually level. In aircraft terms: If you are looking to eliminate roll, you will also need to address pitch. In a turn, the headlight should also pitch upwards to better illuminate the road.

Keeping the headlight level along the roll axis is going to present a huge challenge since the motorcycle will probably not have a repeatable lean for a given speed, lean angle, or rider position on the motorcycle. Getting the pitch correct for a given lean, turn radius, and altitude change of the turn will likely be the bigger challenge though.
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The video I posted only shows the light staying level with the ground when the bike is leaning over. I don't have video yet of the light actually moving right/left. When the motorcycle leans over and the light is level with the ground and turned either right or left depending on the turn, the light is "pitched upwards" relative to the bike. This is how we are taking into account the roll.

Also, there was a comment on the fact that it doesn't look sporty. We have not yet designed an outer shell for it. All of the pictures and video are of the internals. The "making it pretty" to sell is going to come later.

Thanks for all of the great posts and feedback. I appreciate it.
 
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SCLights said:
Hi everyone,

I'm trying to do a little market research for a school project that I am currently working on and would like some help. Myself and a few class mates are working on developing an aftermarket auxiliary adaptive headlight for motorcycles (similar to the adaptive headlights on the high end Lexus cars). The short version is that it is being developed to automatically auto-level itself and turn the correct direction that an upcoming curve in the road is going. This will greatly increase visibility during turns while riding at night and hopefully help decrease riding accidents.

Here are some key things I would like help with:
1. opinions on the idea in general
2. Would you buy one if this was actually available to the public?
3. What would riders want this to look like?
- bolt on auxiliary lights
- flush mount to the fairings
- etc...
4. Any functions in particular that would help improve the the idea?
5. What type of bikes would this be best for?
- cruisers
- adventure
- motard
- supersport
- .....
6. ???? anything you would like to add

Please list the bike you ride so that I can get a good idea of the rider trends.

Any Help with this would be greatly appreciated.

*Hopefully I will have some pictures and video available of our current progress in the near future.*

Thanks
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I would not waste your time on Headlamp stuff. How about doing something special? like Radar, IR, or night vision? Many GPS's have a Video input, and they could be used as a display. This would work in poor weather and turns.

:thumbup
 
You may have something special here but I think your developing a product that has limited benefits for a motorcycle rider. I'm wondering what is the percentage of bikers ride past sundown? What would your selling point be other than lighting the road better at night? This product could only benefit a small market. Also, you mention this could reduce accident at night but don't most motorcycle accidents happen between the hours of 12-6pm according to independent study from MSF? The idea is great but personally I don't see the benefit it yet as a rider but many critics may have said the same about ABS and motorcycle and look where the industry is heading from a safety standpoint. Good luck I like the idea so far.
 
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VFRBenny said:
I would not waste your time on Headlamp stuff. How about doing something special? like Radar, IR, or night vision? Many GPS's have a Video input, and they could be used as a display. This would work in poor weather and turns.

:thumbup
Click to expand...

[youtube]-gDy08EPQEI[/youtube]

This is one of a couple versions of this vid and IR system. the later version had the images displayed on the bike's dash panel.

also, watch the last few seconds of this vid, and you'll see an OEM version of the tilting headlight cut-off I was talking about. ;)
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdyNdlw8zaA
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Does anyone have any update on this project? Or know anything about any other prototypes or patents for a motorcycle adaptive headlight?

I did a search for this topic because I was thinking about how it should have been made already. My friend claims that even if you did market this to the big 4, they could easily recreate the product without your help. But I still think there is money to be made in this invention. Thoughts?
 
I'd do a patent search for BMW's technology.
 
Rather than relying on an electro-mechanical solution, wouldn't it be simpler to have a purely mechanical solution, using levers/linkages to pivot/tilt the headlight as the bar is turned? It doesn't need to be a 100% solution, but if a simple mechanical solution can improve from what we currently have, it may win the cost-benefit game.

On tight roads lots of time you need to look thru the turns before you even start turning, so a lighting system that relies on physical input to the bike does not help in those cases. Seems like a helmet-mount light, or some auxiliary side-projecting wide-beam lights would be easier to implement. My personal fantasy when riding at night in the hills is to have kind of a UFO thingy floating overhead to illuminate the road ahead of me.
 
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