[dorkbotpdx-blabber] Fwd: [freegeek-social] Bike Counter for WNBR -- ideas? volunteers?

[Anthony Asterisk]

Would a reed (magnetic) sensor be triggered by a bicycle wheel? 

I'm imagining an array of very small reed sensors like this:

http://www.meder.com/upload/produkte/69_en_1_MMS_e.pdf

an array would be able to differentiate between 1 bike and several 
bikes, maybe?

A*






Donald Delmar Davis wrote:
> I was thinking rfid myself.
>
> On May 26, 2008, at 2:46 PM, subbies at redheadedstepchild.org 
> <mailto:subbies at redheadedstepchild.org> wrote:
>
>> Er......give everyone a number to stick on their bike before the race
>> starts?
>>
>> I don't know that this is a very sexy technological solution.  Then 
>> again,
>> I'm not sure having 1000 specimens of the average Portlander naked on
>> bikes is very sexy either. But if you're dying for a piece of 
>> technology,
>> maybe you could use a hand tally counter - it's a mechanical button
>> device connected to several rotating number wheels.  Biologists use them
>> when counting things all the time. Mechanics + naked biological 
>> specimens
>> = sexy?
>>
>> -Alexis
>>
>> + --------
>>   redheadedstepchild.org
>>        ------- +
>>
>> On Sun, 25 May 2008, Daniel Johnson wrote:
>>
>> ::Thought maybe someone here would be interested in devising a way to
>> ::accuratly count 1000+ naked cyclists.
>> ::
>> ::
>> ::---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> ::From: Bobby Kovacich <lowtire at gmail.com <mailto:lowtire at gmail.com>>
>> ::
>> ::I don't think the hose would ever give an accurate count.  If you want
>> ::to know exactly, I would say having a picture/movie of the start and
>> ::finish and maybe a few other points along the way and then count the
>> ::individual bikes in the pictures.  I have the camera anda tripod...
>> ::
>> ::Bobby
>> ::
>> ::On Sun, May 25, 2008 at 4:44 PM, Steve Kirkendall
>> ::<skirkendall at dsl-only.net <mailto:skirkendall at dsl-only.net>> wrote:
>> ::> I'm writing a countdown timer for the World Naked Bike Ride on 
>> June 14,
>> ::> and the question has been asked: What should it show when the 
>> countdown
>> ::> hits 00:00?  The most ambitious idea is a bike counter, so we'll know
>> ::> exactly how many bikes our ride has.  Last year, Portland tied with
>> ::> London for the largest rides in the world with about 800 riders each,
>> ::> but those were just estimates.  We're hoping for around 1200 
>> riders this
>> ::> year, and sole ownership of the title.
>> ::>
>> ::> Does anybody here have ideas on how to make a bike counter?  Do 
>> you have
>> ::> the hardware?  Do you know how to interface it to the computer? 
>>  And the
>> ::> biggest question of all: Does anybody want to take on this challenge,
>> ::> bearing in mind that the ride takes place in less than three weeks?
>> ::>
>> ::> Here's what I'm thinking:
>> ::>
>> ::> Well, first I guess I'm thinking that there's NO WAY I have time 
>> to do
>> ::> this myself.  But if I did, I'd look to get multiple segments of 
>> hose,
>> ::> like gas stations use to ring a bell when somebody drives up.  I 
>> figure
>> ::> we'd need multiple hoses because with over 1000 bikers crossing a 
>> single
>> ::> hose in a couple of minutes, the hose would just pretty much stay
>> ::> flattened all the time; it'd count everybody as one really big bike,
>> ::> which is obviously not right.  So we need multiple hoses, each with
>> ::> its own transducer of some kind, all connected to a single computer.
>> ::>
>> ::> An alternative sensor design would be to use light sensors about 1cm
>> ::> above the ground.  Again, with multiple sections.  I don't know 
>> if this
>> ::> would be easier to implement or more reliable than the hoses though.
>> ::>
>> ::> To connect the sensors to the computer, one idea I had was to get an
>> ::> 8-port serial board, connect each sensor to the Carrier Detect line,
>> ::> and then write software that watch for changes to all those CD lines.
>> ::> (I think 8 sections would be adequate.  I haven't done the research
>> ::> though.)
>> ::>
>> ::> --
>> ::> Steve Kirkendall  /  kirkenda at cs.pdx.edu 
>> <mailto:kirkenda at cs.pdx.edu>  /  skirkendall at dsl-only.net 
>> <mailto:skirkendall at dsl-only.net>
>> ::> "Get a bicycle.  You will not regret it.  If you live." -- Mark Twain
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