Glowing grids are visual shorthand for a certain kind of techno-future we all want to live in, wearing silver jumpsuits and popping pizzas-in-pills before heading out to the orbital pleasure sphere. But glowing grids are also really useful for seeing road imperfections, which is why the Lumigrid bike light exists.
The Lumigrid is a proposed design for an LED projector system you'd mount on your bike (or, I suppose, motorcycle) handlebars. The LED matrix projects a glowing blue grid on the ground in front of you. When you have regular, smooth squares, you're on level ground. When you see the grid deform, you can see the rock or open manhole or spiked tiger trap or whatever in front of you, even in very dark conditions.
I'd love to actually try this out, as I bet watching that grid move and undulate is hypnotic. Which is also what I suspect the main flaw of this system is — you'll be so focused watching that grid on the ground in front of you, you could run into a hydrant or tree or something above ground.
The concept is from the industrial design department at Sichuan University, and won a Red Dot design award. So what do I know?
(via BoingBoing)