PENNSYLVANIA – A news report published on popularmechanics.com states that Alaina Gassler, an 8th-grade student from Pennsylvania, masterminded a technology that eliminated dangerous automobile blind spots during an eighth-grade science competition. Alaina competed against 80,000 other students and won the nationwide science, technology, engineering, and math competition for her “blind spot” removal technology. Her invention […]
Science fair invention eliminates blind spots
PENNSYLVANIA – A news report published on popularmechanics.com states that Alaina Gassler, an 8th-grade student from Pennsylvania, masterminded a technology that eliminated dangerous automobile blind spots during an eighth-grade science competition. Alaina competed against 80,000 other students and won the nationwide science, technology, engineering, and math competition for her “blind spot” removal technology. Her invention makes a motor vehicle’s front pillars “invisible,” and this allows drivers to see “through” the car’s frame allowing motorists to see through the car’s blind spots.
According to the news report, about 840,000 car crashes each year that can be traced back to a car’s A-frame blind spots. For over 100-years, there has been no perfect solution for blind spots that the auto industry has accepted. However, thanks to a brilliant solution created by Alaina Gassler of West Grove, Pennsylvania, her idea makes a car’s A-frame pillars “see-through.” The technology uses projectors that project images of what is really behind the pillars onto their surfaces.
The solution works for both front and back pillars. The invention could also save an enormous number of pedestrian lives. Gassler’s invention projects live footage of the car’s view beyond the blind spot. Gassler took home the $25,000 grand prize for her invention, which she constructed while in eighth grade.
The 14-year-old student stated that it takes her a long time to think up ideas for the science fair projects each year. However, the idea came to her when the girl’s grandmother scraped the paint off her car’s side when she hit a pole in her blind spot.
A camera is positioned on the outside of the A-pillar, and it records what’s behind it. Then the video is fed a projector that’s above the driver’s head and projects the video feed onto the car’s pillars.
The projector is an initial prototype to prove her concept works. The next version will utilize liquid crystal display (LCD) monitors and allow the user to adjust the brightness for greater visibility. Her father filed a provisional patent to protect her idea and hopes to find a unique angle that will grant her a patent from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Gassler hopes to license or sell her idea instead of starting her own business.
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