10 ms·

Ten-year-old invents light-up crosswalks, IBM makes them real

95 points by DanLivesHere 14y ago

rickdale 14y ago
Cool idea, I like that they didn't choose a random product to try an market, but an actual real world application. As a driver more than a walking pedestrian, I think these light-ups would be awesome on the road. Even during the day. I consider myself to be a good driver, but this would definitely help out. I have to add that generally a 10 year old is not going to give you the next big app idea. 10 year olds will have no more creative ideas than you or me. But just like the lottery, it could happen.
- fallous 14y ago
  You may be right with regards to the next big app idea, but I'd disagree with the idea that 10 year-olds are no more creative than adults. Over time people tend to get less creative with regards to big ideas due to self-limiting based on operating within the confines of existing systems. When you've operated inside the box long enough, your mental models assume the walls of the box even if they cease to exist simply because so many assumptions about reality are based on prior experience.
  - AYBABTME 14y ago
    Over time people tend to get less creative with regards to big ideas due to self-limiting based on operating within the confines of existing systems. Is this your opinion, or are there research supporting this?
    - pretoriusB 14y ago
      Yes there is, and no, not everything needs to be explained with references and citations.
      - AYBABTME 14y ago
        I have a different intuition and I'd like to know why I'm wrong, other than what she/he thinks.
rdl 14y ago
I think we actually have those in some places in California. Not as perfectly as she's describing, but a bunch of LED bumps installed at the edges, which flash when someone's pressed a button. Sensors and bigger stripes would be nice. (It's a great idea, and especially if she never saw one before, shows a great thought process.)
- ChuckMcM 14y ago
  Although having the stripes light up makes it even more visible. So its not really a new idea, and IBM isn't really in the business of making road signage, but as a marketing campaign it gets their message across in a nice way that their main business (which is consulting) is willing to implement "your" (and by that I mean the customer) bright ideas.
  - rdl 14y ago
    I'm curious about Cringely's ceaseless attacks on IBM. I wonder how legitimate they are -- claiming that IBM is rapidly outsourcing almost everything, not delivering as a consultancy, etc. I only know IBM Labs people, who do complain about weird bureaucratic stuff, but no worse than anywhere else, and a few barely-competent people who work as "solutions architects", but they may just be outliers.
    - ChuckMcM 14y ago
      Cringely has an axe to grind, nothing really new there, but its a valid point that IBM seems to be changing the way they do business that seems a bit strange. To their credit though they are still a going concern, Sun is toast, and HP is in what appears to be a death spiral. So one could argue they are surviving better.
    - simcop2387 14y ago
      No idea about the consultancy part, but I've got an uncle who works for them and has mentioned the out sourcing, they like to keep layoffs below sec reporting thresholds food that stuff.
    - 14y ago
revelation 14y ago
What an incredibly "out of the box" idea we have here. Sorry, I don't want to sound mean, but its a sad state of affairs when 10 year olds grow up fully accustomed to a world where most public space is taken up by two ton combustion engines. It cuts out all the vital critical thinking. The question shouldn't be "how can we make crosswalks safer for pedestrians" but "why are there cars and roads where pedestrians walk". Otherwise we end up with things like the "bicycle lane".
- rwmj 14y ago
  Because people want to make journeys faster and further than they could walk or cycle?
- mattdeboard 14y ago
  "In the case where a thing exists, let's make that thing better." Sounds legit. In contrast, I have no idea what your complaint is even about.
- avree 14y ago
  Maybe the ten-year old wanted to propose an idea to solve an immediate problem she saw rather than trying to come up with a holistic strategy to re-do transportation and city planning. I think this is a great. She came up with her own question and then an answer to it.
- ohwp 14y ago
  The other question that remained unanswered is "Why don't cars stop when someone is waiting for a crosswalk?". Because in the example it's already completely clear that there is a crosswalk.
  - jasonlotito 14y ago
    "Why don't cars stop when someone is waiting for a crosswalk?" Because, that's pointless. You should only stop when someone is waiting to cross at a crosswalk. This is a distinction people forget. Standing at a crosswalk does not mean you want to cross. Furthermore, wanting to cross at a cross walk does not mean you have the right of way to do so. Regardless of where you live and the laws, these are problems.
guard-of-terra 14y ago
I am sorry but the idea is not new at all. http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/air-zebra/ http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/air-zebra/ And the implementation is in the works - laws being passed to make those required.
- dainix 14y ago
  Interesting that IBM left it in that case! Nevertheless impressive for young-in :)
- DanBC 14y ago
  Do you think you might be missing the point of the video? EDIT: And your link is nothing like the zebra crossing shown in the video.
  - Firehed 14y ago
    It's not, but the problems it tries to solve are the same and it seems to do a better job solving them.
easy_rider 14y ago
Couldn't some kind of luminescent paint be utilized instead?
- Sandman 14y ago
  That was my thought initially too, but I guess that if the crossing was shining all the time, drivers would simply start ignoring it after a while. The fact that the crossing lights up when pedestrians are allowed to cross acts as a visual cue for the drivers to stop.
- mobweb 14y ago
  In Switzerland we add small pearls to the paint when marking a zebra crossing. The pearls reflect the light from the cars. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/SwarovskiPerlen-lassen-Zebrastreifen-funkeln/story/10724404 http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/SwarovskiPe...
jtchang 14y ago
I believe outside San francisco city hall we have a crosswalk which lights up. I believe it with with LEDs that flash. I like this on way better. Does it turn off immediately when there is no one in the crosswalk?
jghrng 14y ago
While looking cool, it seems to me like this catches a pedestrian's attention more than the one of the drivers. If pedestrians are distracted from traffic right before crossing, this would make crosswalks less safe. It should be more useful (but more expensive) to lighten up the actual crosswalk signs on the road as soon as pedestrians are approaching.
- pretoriusB 14y ago
  >While looking cool, it seems to me like this catches a pedestrian's attention more than the one of the drivers. Obviously that's only because they see it for the first time in the video. In actual use it will not catch their attention at all...
WalterBright 14y ago
I've never assumed cars will stop for me if I step into a crosswalk, nor do I ever assume they see me. I simply wait on the edge until the cars stop. If they are stopped, it prevents cars further back from going into the crosswalk. It works better than anything else. After all, if I get hit, I get hurt, even if I'm legally in the right. People who blithely step into a crosswalk and assume cars will see and stop are fools.
- MichaelGG 14y ago
  I think her point was that even standing by the side, cars are not stopping. So by having a light-up crosswalk that turns on as soon as you're on the edge, maybe more cars will stop.
  - rorrr 14y ago
    The real problem is the cars not stopping. All these idiots should get tickets, points, and their insurance should go up.
    - deleted 14y ago
      [deleted]
dhughes 14y ago
Aww damn it! This was my idea :( I guess I'm not the only one to think of this. My plan was piezoelectric crystals and some sort of electro-luminescent plastic or possibly solar charged. Also for the road lines since rain makes them hard to see, age dims the paint and snow cover them up pretty bad. The only problem is I live in a winter environment and plows scrape the hell out of the roads it would have to be embedded in the road.

95 points by DanLivesHere 14y ago

Cool idea, I like that they didn't choose a random product to try an market, but an actual real world application. As a driver more than a walking pedestrian, I think these light-ups would be awesome on the road. Even during the day. I consider myself to be a good driver, but this would definitely help out. I have to add that generally a 10 year old is not going to give you the next big app idea. 10 year olds will have no more creative ideas than you or me. But just like the lottery, it could happen.

fallous 14y ago
You may be right with regards to the next big app idea, but I'd disagree with the idea that 10 year-olds are no more creative than adults. Over time people tend to get less creative with regards to big ideas due to self-limiting based on operating within the confines of existing systems. When you've operated inside the box long enough, your mental models assume the walls of the box even if they cease to exist simply because so many assumptions about reality are based on prior experience.
- AYBABTME 14y ago
  Over time people tend to get less creative with regards to big ideas due to self-limiting based on operating within the confines of existing systems. Is this your opinion, or are there research supporting this?
  - pretoriusB 14y ago
    Yes there is, and no, not everything needs to be explained with references and citations.
    - AYBABTME 14y ago
      I have a different intuition and I'd like to know why I'm wrong, other than what she/he thinks.

rdl 14y ago

I think we actually have those in some places in California. Not as perfectly as she's describing, but a bunch of LED bumps installed at the edges, which flash when someone's pressed a button. Sensors and bigger stripes would be nice. (It's a great idea, and especially if she never saw one before, shows a great thought process.)

ChuckMcM 14y ago
Although having the stripes light up makes it even more visible. So its not really a new idea, and IBM isn't really in the business of making road signage, but as a marketing campaign it gets their message across in a nice way that their main business (which is consulting) is willing to implement "your" (and by that I mean the customer) bright ideas.
- rdl 14y ago
  I'm curious about Cringely's ceaseless attacks on IBM. I wonder how legitimate they are -- claiming that IBM is rapidly outsourcing almost everything, not delivering as a consultancy, etc. I only know IBM Labs people, who do complain about weird bureaucratic stuff, but no worse than anywhere else, and a few barely-competent people who work as "solutions architects", but they may just be outliers.
  - ChuckMcM 14y ago
    Cringely has an axe to grind, nothing really new there, but its a valid point that IBM seems to be changing the way they do business that seems a bit strange. To their credit though they are still a going concern, Sun is toast, and HP is in what appears to be a death spiral. So one could argue they are surviving better.
  - simcop2387 14y ago
    No idea about the consultancy part, but I've got an uncle who works for them and has mentioned the out sourcing, they like to keep layoffs below sec reporting thresholds food that stuff.
  - 14y ago

revelation 14y ago

What an incredibly "out of the box" idea we have here. Sorry, I don't want to sound mean, but its a sad state of affairs when 10 year olds grow up fully accustomed to a world where most public space is taken up by two ton combustion engines. It cuts out all the vital critical thinking. The question shouldn't be "how can we make crosswalks safer for pedestrians" but "why are there cars and roads where pedestrians walk". Otherwise we end up with things like the "bicycle lane".

rwmj 14y ago
Because people want to make journeys faster and further than they could walk or cycle?
mattdeboard 14y ago
"In the case where a thing exists, let's make that thing better." Sounds legit. In contrast, I have no idea what your complaint is even about.
avree 14y ago
Maybe the ten-year old wanted to propose an idea to solve an immediate problem she saw rather than trying to come up with a holistic strategy to re-do transportation and city planning. I think this is a great. She came up with her own question and then an answer to it.
ohwp 14y ago
The other question that remained unanswered is "Why don't cars stop when someone is waiting for a crosswalk?". Because in the example it's already completely clear that there is a crosswalk.
- jasonlotito 14y ago
  "Why don't cars stop when someone is waiting for a crosswalk?" Because, that's pointless. You should only stop when someone is waiting to cross at a crosswalk. This is a distinction people forget. Standing at a crosswalk does not mean you want to cross. Furthermore, wanting to cross at a cross walk does not mean you have the right of way to do so. Regardless of where you live and the laws, these are problems.

guard-of-terra 14y ago

I am sorry but the idea is not new at all. http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/air-zebra/ http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/air-zebra/ And the implementation is in the works - laws being passed to make those required.

dainix 14y ago
Interesting that IBM left it in that case! Nevertheless impressive for young-in :)
DanBC 14y ago
Do you think you might be missing the point of the video? EDIT: And your link is nothing like the zebra crossing shown in the video.
- Firehed 14y ago
  It's not, but the problems it tries to solve are the same and it seems to do a better job solving them.

easy_rider 14y ago

Couldn't some kind of luminescent paint be utilized instead?

Sandman 14y ago
That was my thought initially too, but I guess that if the crossing was shining all the time, drivers would simply start ignoring it after a while. The fact that the crossing lights up when pedestrians are allowed to cross acts as a visual cue for the drivers to stop.
mobweb 14y ago
In Switzerland we add small pearls to the paint when marking a zebra crossing. The pearls reflect the light from the cars. http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/SwarovskiPerlen-lassen-Zebrastreifen-funkeln/story/10724404 http://www.tagesanzeiger.ch/panorama/vermischtes/SwarovskiPe...

jtchang 14y ago

I believe outside San francisco city hall we have a crosswalk which lights up. I believe it with with LEDs that flash. I like this on way better. Does it turn off immediately when there is no one in the crosswalk?

jghrng 14y ago

While looking cool, it seems to me like this catches a pedestrian's attention more than the one of the drivers. If pedestrians are distracted from traffic right before crossing, this would make crosswalks less safe. It should be more useful (but more expensive) to lighten up the actual crosswalk signs on the road as soon as pedestrians are approaching.

pretoriusB 14y ago
>While looking cool, it seems to me like this catches a pedestrian's attention more than the one of the drivers. Obviously that's only because they see it for the first time in the video. In actual use it will not catch their attention at all...

WalterBright 14y ago

I've never assumed cars will stop for me if I step into a crosswalk, nor do I ever assume they see me. I simply wait on the edge until the cars stop. If they are stopped, it prevents cars further back from going into the crosswalk. It works better than anything else. After all, if I get hit, I get hurt, even if I'm legally in the right. People who blithely step into a crosswalk and assume cars will see and stop are fools.

MichaelGG 14y ago
I think her point was that even standing by the side, cars are not stopping. So by having a light-up crosswalk that turns on as soon as you're on the edge, maybe more cars will stop.
- rorrr 14y ago
  The real problem is the cars not stopping. All these idiots should get tickets, points, and their insurance should go up.
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]

dhughes 14y ago

Aww damn it! This was my idea :( I guess I'm not the only one to think of this. My plan was piezoelectric crystals and some sort of electro-luminescent plastic or possibly solar charged. Also for the road lines since rain makes them hard to see, age dims the paint and snow cover them up pretty bad. The only problem is I live in a winter environment and plows scrape the hell out of the roads it would have to be embedded in the road.