STEM-In-Action Fall Follow-Up: E-bike Safety Patrol

Welcome to another STEM-In-Action Grant Fall Follow Up, where we check in with our 2023-2024 STEM-In-Action Grant winners to see what they've accomplished since NJ&EE! If you're new to the STEM-In-Action Grant program, the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (AEOP) awards five STEM-In-Action Grants of up to $5,000 to eCYBERMISSION Regional Finalist teams wishing to further develop and implement their projects in their communities. This week, we're catching up with San Diego team, E-bike Safety Patrol.

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Greetings from San Diego! We (Ahaan Pandey and Naomi Ly Mehl) are the E-bike Safety Patrol, hard at work protecting the streets. We both have a strong passion for STEM and when we heard about eCYBERMISSION, we were ecstatic to put our abilities to the test. 

In California, the e-bike business is drastically increasing, and for good reason! E-bikes are useful for cheap, convenient, and fun traveling experiences. Children especially get a sense of independence using them. The downside is that it’s widespread to see e-bike riders not wearing helmets. When our team realized this, it seemed like the perfect community problem to address. Now the question was: how do we promote the use of helmets? After brainstorming, we based our prototype on this essential question. 

To start building our prototype, we put one microcontroller in the e-bike circuit and helmet, which communicates via bluetooth. So, when the helmet is out of proximity range from the e-bike, the motor of the e-bike would not be enabled. To enhance safety, we placed a sensor on the inside of a helmet which ensured the rider wore the helmet instead of hanging on the handle on the e-bike. In our prototype, we demonstrated the e-bike motor using a fan. When someone would wear the helmet, the motor would spin the fan. If the person took off the helmet, the motor would stop. After much brainstorming, coding, and troubleshooting, we finally invented our product, the Smart Helmet. 

Thanks to the STEM-In-Action Grant, we have been able to secure an e-bike, as well as consider adding 3D-printed housing for the helmet sensor. We are now researching how to tap into the e-bike system in a way that supports our device. Moreover, we plan to reach out to local schools to raise public awareness about the importance of helmet safety and to promote our initiative within the community.

This journey has opened doors for us to delve deeper into STEM than we ever imagined. Both of us have gained invaluable knowledge about circuits, coding, and prototype development. What started as a curiosity has transformed us into confident learners and innovators, and we owe a great deal to the guidance of experts and our collaborative efforts. Previously neither of us knew anything about circuits or coding. But now, thanks to the research and the help of experts, we were able to learn much from this experience! In the future, we hope to see the change on the streets, where everyone is wearing a helmet!

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We are amazed at how much E-bike Safety Patrol has managed to accomplish in only a few months following NJ&EE! Their willingness to learn and improve their STEM skills to accomplish their goals is admirable, and we're excited to see their next steps this spring!

Registration for the 2024-2025 eCYBERMISSION is competition is open at www.ecybermission.com/register.

Faith Benner

AEOP Sr. Communications and Marketing Specialist