Teen uses external cameras and projection-mapping onto the a-pillar to "solve" blind-spots

Cory Doctorow 12:50 am Sun Nov 3, 2019

"Improving Automobile Safety by Removing Blind Spots" is 14 year old Alaina Gassler's prizewinning science-fair project, which uses cameras mounted to the exterior of the car and feeding their video to internal projectors, which projection-map them onto the a-pillars that otherwise obscure the driver's view.

The Pennsylvania teen's project won the top $25,000 prize in the Broadcom MASTERS (Math, Applied Science, Technology, and Engineering for Rising Stars) science competition.

I am a giant fan of projection mapping, which makes for eerily cool and wonderful effects, and Gassler's project — which used 3D printed components to precisely map the projections — are no exception.

Through her project, Alaina Gassler is seeking to make driving safer by reducing blind spots. She designed a system that uses a webcam to display anything that might block the driver’s line of sight. Alaina was inspired to create her device after seeing her mother struggle with blind spots in their family automobile.

14-Year-Old Genius Solves Blind Spots [Andrew Liszewski/Gizmodo]

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