The Copenhagen climate talks last December might have been a political disaster, but here’s another project from the same city that might make a difference for some. And yay – it’s iPhone friendly.
The Copenhagen Wheel is an ingenious hub that you can fit to almost any bike, instantly turning it into a hybrid electric bicycle and data capture device.
Clip your iPhone or A.N.Other smartphone on to the handlebars, and it can talk to the wheel over Bluetooth.
Packed into the wheel is a pile of technology. Some of is mechanical, and captures energy that’s dissipated while you’re braking. It stores this energy in a built-in battery, and you can use it to give you a boost when you need one.
The other chunk of technology is electronic, and comprises a bunch of sensors for measuring how far you’ve gone, where you are right now, what the local air pollution conditions are like, and so on.
Everything’s controlled through the iPhone on the handlebars. The app there tells you how well you’re doing with your ride, and lets you share data with other users in the same city. When there are traffic snarl-ups, you’ll be able to pull up a real-time map and see which roads to avoid.
It all sounds great, but right now it’s just a concept, developed by people from the SENSEable City Lab at MIT. If you want to buy one, you’re going to have to wait until they hopefully go into production later this year.
