Photo: Zercado
Zercado is the name of a project aimed at delivering the first smart, self-adjusting mirrors designed with motorcycle safety in mind. The idea was rewarded with a Microsoft Imagine Cup award and we'd like to see it taking off.
Behind Zercado is a Polish rider Bart Ambrozkiewicz who was involved in a motorbike accident that could have been prevented had he benefitted from better visibility of his environment. After the incident, he started to evaluate the practicality of a different type of motorcycle mirrors that would provide automatic adjustability, and came up with the Zercado system.
Even though it may sound like a very complex idea, manufacturing such mirrors is not exactly rocket science because of the technological advances in the field of miniature mechatronics.
Automated systems are becoming increasingly popular, and their scale ranges from huge mechanisms to the smallest one, so finding the right components is more of a matching task. Even more, the technology used in car mirrors is already perfected and proven, and with the scalability not being a significant problem.
Now, without making any legal claims, the one thing that sounds funny about the entire self-adjusting mirrors is the coverstory we ran almost two years ago and which described the working principles of such an add-on to detailed levels. We won't say anything more now, but we'll definitely invite you to read that story, How About Self-Adjusting Motorcycle Mirrors?
All in all, the system has a solid potential and brings benefits that are hard to ignore. Aspherical mirrors are solving the visibility issues only partially but having them adjusting according to the rider's position can make a significant change in the whole passive safety paradigm and the way riders are aware of things happening around them when on two wheels.
The Zercado will be up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter soon, with the price of the retail production version estimated at $250 (€220).
Even though it may sound like a very complex idea, manufacturing such mirrors is not exactly rocket science because of the technological advances in the field of miniature mechatronics.
Automated systems are becoming increasingly popular, and their scale ranges from huge mechanisms to the smallest one, so finding the right components is more of a matching task. Even more, the technology used in car mirrors is already perfected and proven, and with the scalability not being a significant problem.
Now, without making any legal claims, the one thing that sounds funny about the entire self-adjusting mirrors is the coverstory we ran almost two years ago and which described the working principles of such an add-on to detailed levels. We won't say anything more now, but we'll definitely invite you to read that story, How About Self-Adjusting Motorcycle Mirrors?
All in all, the system has a solid potential and brings benefits that are hard to ignore. Aspherical mirrors are solving the visibility issues only partially but having them adjusting according to the rider's position can make a significant change in the whole passive safety paradigm and the way riders are aware of things happening around them when on two wheels.
The Zercado will be up for crowdfunding on Kickstarter soon, with the price of the retail production version estimated at $250 (€220).
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