CRed05 Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Interesting. http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/04/carnegie-mellon-smart-headlight-prototype/ http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2012/07/2-smartheadlig-07-04-12-01-1341405672.jpg Researchers from Carnegie Mellon have developed a prototype smart headlight which blots out individual drops of rain or snow -- improving vision by up to 90 percent. Made with an off-the-shelf Viewsonic DLP projector, a quad-core Intel Core-i7 PC and a GigE Point Grey Flea3 camera, the Rube Goldberg-esque process starts by first imaging raindrops arriving at the top of its view. After this, the signal goes to a processing unit, which uses a predictive theory developed by the team to guess the drops' path to the road. Finally, the projector -- found in the same place as the camera -- uses a beamsplitter like modern digital 3D rigs. Used in tandem with calculations, it transmits a beam with light voids matching the predicted path. The result? It all stops light from hitting the falling particles, with the cumulative process resulting in the illusion of a nearly precipitation-free road view -- at least in the lab. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sturg1647545502 Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 It's like a golden shower with out the shower. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TTQ B4U Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 Insurance companies can't wait to replace this system i bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco-REX Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 This only works on a 2 dimensional visual plane. So if the rain is heavy enough, you'll have no headlights at all. Good plan.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ODoyle Posted July 5, 2012 Report Share Posted July 5, 2012 This only works on a 2 dimensional visual plane. So if the rain is heavy enough, you'll have no headlights at all. Good plan.... Let's let Darwin sort that out, shall we. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr. Apex Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 Also it's only demonstrated in a steady rain fall, rain doesn't fall like that by any means and I could see that i7 grenading itself after about 3 seconds of trying to "predict" actual rain drops in infinite different sizes, shapes, and coming from all directons. Pretty neat though and maybe they will figure out something from this that might actually work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 This only works on a 2 dimensional visual plane. So if the rain is heavy enough, you'll have no headlights at all. Good plan.... Exactly my though! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragu1a Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 What a waste of time and money developing this...only time I've had trouble seeing in the rain is when it's coming down faster than my wipers can go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Furloaf Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 ^ I was thinking that as well. If it was raining hard enough for this thing to make a difference, then you couldn't see well enough to drive anyway. It's also dangerous for the lack of traction and likelihood of hydroplaning. The concept is flawed in another way. It doesn't provide anymore light than the regular headlight, it just keeps the "wasted" light from being reflected back. If anything, less light would be hitting the road in front of you than if you used a normal headlight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forrest Gump 9 Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 What a waste of time and money developing this...only time I've had trouble seeing in the rain is when it's coming down faster than my wipers can go. You need some rain-x. The rain just rolls right off, I barely need to use the wipers even in the recent rain storms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Draco-REX Posted July 6, 2012 Report Share Posted July 6, 2012 You need some rain-x. The rain just rolls right off, I barely need to use the wipers even in the recent rain storms. This^ Every car I own gets the Rain-X treatment as soon as I get it. Clarity is so much better in the rain, especially heavy rain. I'm amazed that some people don't like it. The visibility is just that much better. The only downside I can see is that wipers tend to streak a little. But part of that I think is that dirt is less likely to stay with the windshield and more likely to adhere to the wiper blade. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragu1a Posted July 7, 2012 Report Share Posted July 7, 2012 You need some rain-x. The rain just rolls right off, I barely need to use the wipers even in the recent rain storms. This^ Every car I own gets the Rain-X treatment as soon as I get it. Clarity is so much better in the rain, especially heavy rain. I'm amazed that some people don't like it. The visibility is just that much better. i keep telling myself that everytime i'm out in the rain...then it stops raining and i forget about it until next time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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