Reader Billy May sent us these concept sketches for the Nike Hindsight, specially design biking glasses with specifically tuned Fresnel lenses for keeping an eye on approaching taxis/cars/baby strollers.
Writes Billy:
Nike Hindsight is, put simply, like giving bicyclists a pair of bifocals for their peripheral vision. By using Fresnel lenses on the sides of eye wear, riders can detect motion in a field of view beyond the normal human limit of 180º. To get technical, high power, diverging Fresnel zones aligned vertically distort into view an extra 25º of view on either side. In doing this, vision is radically distorted in the periphery, but as the eye detects only motion in that area, little clarity is lost in the process.
A rider’s clear benefit is in the early warning of approaching vehicles, but a less obvious advantage is reducing the necessary head rotation to check completely behind oneself. Moreover, while the project was directed towards bicycling for the sake of simplicity, there’s a myriad of sports and activities where a greater field of view becomes an advantage, so feel free to speculate.
Remember: Concept means these are not real – yet – but I would totally wear these if they were. Even riding through the mean streets of Bay Ridge is a frightening proposition as grannies and the habitually stupid try to pass me all the time on my bike.
wow, that’s very cool. but is it still only a concept? damn, I thought it’s already in the market :p
Its NIKE, i think it should be in market …
dear friend
do you have any information for Nike hindsight !!where to find and price..I live in Turkey.
thank you and best regards
Can
I can’t remember who made them, but I had a pair of sunglasses when I was 10 that had a mirrored portion on the edge of the lens. It worked somewhat like this, although these look way better than those did 2 decades ago.
It was made by a company called “Spy Gear” or “Spy Kids”, or something like that. I remember I had this tower of a box designed to let you look around corners.
I want one of these now. Or least the chance to work with the designers….
Very cool – a physical correlation to the rendering technology I talk about here: http://digitalcomposting.wordpress.com/2008/08/08/non-euclidean-user-interfaces-2/
This is soo friggin’ cool!! Wonder when is it going to be mass produced…
I would buy these in a heartbeat. Nike. Go production. Please?
Yes, very cool. But why not extend this idea to video games? Why not have diffuse blobs at the sides of the screen when there is movement just slightly off the screen, to let the user in a first person shooter have some more peripheral vision for movement?
When there is movement in the peripheral vision extremes, we don’t really see it anyway, we ‘feel’ it and turn our heads.
It says in this article that riders won’t have to turn their heads so much. One of the annoying things in realistic shooters is the constant moving of head sideways to see what’s going on.
Thoughts?
Yup, that’s exactly what I talk about in the link above!
liek OMG Frode u could liek work for viedo gamens! its like well duh! why didnt i thnik of taht?!?!
Hmm. But will it detect idiot drivers on cell phones and warn you?
Or other self-handicapped drivers reading multi-paged-paper reports, texting, ignoring bike lanes and pedestiran crosswalk signals, etc. all things I have seen just this week on my bike.
‘
Nike should invent Bicycle Body Armor instead.
Will this be anyways getting to the market?
1. I don’t see how these are supposed to help you.
2. Cylists should ride on the pavement (sidewalk) anyway in my opinion. A cyclist hitting a pedestrian is going to be a lot less damaging then a car hitting a cyclist isn’t it? It is a stupid rule and I don’t know why they ever introduced it. I’m in the UK and I’m not sure if it is the same in the US?
I think these are a great idea! RE: James it is illegal for bicyclists to ride on the sidewalk in Tucson, AZ USA.
@James: It’s illegal in California for a Cyclist to ride on the sidewalk. I constantly have to deal with ignorant drivers who yell at me to get on the sidewalk.
This is a great idea not just for Cycling but I’d have a use for them in Hang Gliding as well.
Actually, you are incorrect. My one friend has literally run over 12 bicyclists. None of them were seriously injured. As for a bicyclist hitting a person, it is extremely dangerous.
Your “friend” is obviously a complete idiot that needs his license permanently suspended.
Your “friend” is obviously a complete idiot that needs his license permanently suspended.
Most US states have laws banning the use of bikes on sidewalks. The sidewalks are for walkers. :) So long as the bikes and cars both follow the law and PAY ATTENTION rather than eat a burger, chat on the phone, read a map etc, everything works out fine.
Totally great invention ! Nike, get those to my store please !
No good for me unless they come with prescription lenses… which they won’t
you could wear prescription contact lenses under the glasses
yeah, I could but I wont because I dont like them. Especially being a mountain biker coping with them with cack covered fingers aint a lot of fun – been there done that, never again.
Having been an NYC bicycle messenger for a short while (and yes…I DID receive the door prize, not once, but thrice) these are not only a great invention, but a necessity for anyone cycling in an urban environment. If Nike doesn’t run with this, I wouldn’t be surprised to see other sports/cycling companies run with the idea.
I wonder if it would keep bicyclists from breaking the traffic laws if they wore these? Oh wait, that’s not likely. It only takes a few idiots on bikes to ruin it for everyone. Every day, I have to deal with some jerk on a bike that doesn’t understand sharing the road means following the traffic laws. I like the comment from the one cyclist saying Nike should create body armor for cyclists. I agree. It will make me feel better knowing I can bounce them off my bumper without killing them.
I think I’m going to go to all the car blogs and start posting rants about how new tires won’t stop people from driving drunk or how airbags don’t keep people from texting instead of watching the road. That is the same kind of nonesense people spew in the comment section of every website that even mentions the word bicycle.
Actually, cyclists do very rarely break traffic laws: they follow those that apply to them. More then 90% of accidents are because of idiotic divers who do not check their rear-view mirrors. One advise to you, coward anonymous murderer: do not come across my bike, because I will trash your car, and prevent you from getting your license back. Ever. In any state. I did it several times already, and — as you put it so elegantly — I’ll make anything to ruin your life.
Burning your house? Raping your wife? That’s less offensive then saying you’d run over me, is it? Anything. My life is at stake.
I’m not sure I’ve ever seen a bicyclist NOT run a red light. Your life just isn’t that important to me, and I’m not above helping you out of it. However, since you’ve threatened me and my property, just let me know who you are when we run into each other so I can shoot you, deal?
I dont know.. but being that the glasses distort your vision to what vision REALLY is like, people shouldn’t drive with those on. lol.
The glasses are for bicyclists not for drivers. I think they are a great Idea.
Well, they should be for drivers: bicyclist have no issues looking over their shoulder, to see what’s around. Drivers obviously have problems with that.
Very interesting idea! The Fresnel lens just keeps getting more useful over time
By the way, for those who don’t know, the word is pronounced “FER-NEL,” not “FREZ-NEL.” If you call it a “Fres-nel” in front of someone who knows the real word, they’ll have a good chuckle.
And for whoever suggested that bicyclists ride on the sidewalk, clearly you are not a bike commuter – riding on the sidewalk would be very dangerous and extremely inefficient. If you’re worried about hitting bikers, just pay attention – the bikers certainly are!
Haha Wow, Ive been working on this project for 5 months, and you learn something new everyday. Maybe now I won’t look life a douche when/if I pitch this.
I see the use, but I can see headaches being a huge problem, and there is a chance that, seeing how it screws with people’s deph perception and general field of vision, it could possibly increase accidents for those who don’t get used to them before using them, but that’s just my opinion…
I can see this as a huge advantage for military tactical operations.
do they come in black? if not. then i still want them
wow that’s so cool , i’m so gonna get’em when they come out
Now, if I could just get eyes in the back of my head I can see who is about to stab me in the back. Also works great to detect bears and mountain lions about to pounce on my @ss.
Awesome idea! But, I think this would be very useful for motorcyclists, if they can somehow design them in to the window-visor somehow…
uh, pls produce?
Great invent!!!
Nike Hindsight is, put simply, like giving bicyclists a pair of bifocals for their peripheral vision. By using Fresnel lenses on the sides of eye wear, riders can detect motion in a field of view beyond the normal human limit of 180º. To get technical, high power, diverging Fresnel zones aligned vertically distort into view an extra 25º of view on either side. In doing this, vision is radically distorted in the periphery, but as the eye detects only motion in that area, little clarity is lost in the process.
Seems like these would work well for other sports like football, lacross and soccer.
Your right in that it would work well for sports, but it plays a potential living saving roll for bicyclists who are into cycling for transportation. Thus its target market is cyclists, not one one-uping your competition.
These are a great idea. They are similar to the German mirrors I bought to replace my USA mirrors on my car that have edges that show wide angle. Why don’t we have these in the US still????
I can see that these would be lifesavers on a bike. That would apply to motorcycles as well. Could they be made to prescription ?
Oldbiker
kooler then coolio
These sunglasses are so cool. I just brought a pair at http://www.SimplyEyeglasses.com .
Hi, did you bought this sunglasses on that site? I have source this glasses, but i could not find …
They should be exxpensive
Oh,I would get so baked and just walk around in my little enhanced surounding…or watch porn on three screens…
Lovely little thing,have to get one of these…
False advertizing at it’s most blatant. These glasses don’t let you actually see what’s behind you, as the name implies, they just give you slightly extended peripheral vision. I wouldn’t buy this POS if it were free.
It’s a gag.
suicide.
Now if they can only get a factory full of children to make them.
since nobody called it, FIRST COMMENT!