Supporting safety in cycling groups using LED-augmented gestures

Abstract

Cycling is a popular sport in which assistance devices are used for measuring heart rate, speed or cadence. Even if much more important than performance metrics, systems for supporting communication within the group are not available. Speech and standard hand-gestures are commonly used by cyclists to communicate danger and to propagate commands from the front to the end of the group. We propose an approach to enhance the communication chain by using gesture recognition and LEDs sewed into the backside of the cyclists' shirts. We studied the requirements for using the system for augmenting gestures with light, by presenting our prototype to a group of cyclists asking for their opinion. We found that about half of the cyclists fear new irritations, but most of the cyclists would also appreciate the support, especially for supporting large groups.