Unveiled at the UN Climate Conference last week, the Copenhagen Wheel was created by the Senseable City Lab at MIT as an emblem for urban mobility. The device quickly transforms an ordinary bike into an electric hybrid bike that also acts as a traveling environmental sensing unit.
Similar to other electric bikes, the Copenhagen Wheel captures the energy created from cycling and braking and saves it for when you need a bit of a boost. Different from other hybrid electric bikes however, the Copenhagen Wheel packs all the components into a single hub. There is no bulky external battery pack or wiring, making it easy to retrofit any bike. Inside the Copenhagen Wheel is a motor, 3-speed internal hub gear, lithium ion batteries, torque sensor, GPRS wireless unit and an external environmental sensor kit.
The Copenhagen Wheel is controlled through your iPhone or other Smartphone. Simply place your phone in the handlebar cradle and information is sent via Bluetooth back and forth from the wheel hub. Your phone can be used to lock and unlock your hybrid electric bike, change gears, select the level of motor assist and view all the sensor information.
With the various sensors, the Copenhagen Wheel captures information about your personal riding habits, your effort levels and calories burned. In addition, the sensors capture information about the surrounding environment such as road conditions, traffic congestion, pollution levels including CO, NOx, db noise levels, relative humidity and temperature.
All this data can be uploaded to your computer or the web in order to share with friends or the city in which you ride, use to plan a healthier bike commute and chart your progress. This is taking the San Francisco CycleTracks smartphone application to the next level!
(via road.cc)