Smart Bicycles ( Old One - 2017 work )

Note - Did this as a proposal for a company that didn't go ahead, so thought of sharing it now as a use case of IoT. Post our proposal, there was a wave of connected cycle startups ( not that I am saying because of our - means my startup proposal, but a lot of work was done with connected cycle and renting platform ). Now when I look back at it, it was a good-to-have thing but might have worked for cycling enthusiasts and those with costly bicycles. 

Last-mile connectivity is still a problem and a lot of startups are working on it and are working on it. Pedl ( Zoom Car ) was one of the products pretty famous at that time ( they shut down the operation in 2018 ). Most of these startups are E-Bicycle startups like Yulu Or Zypp Electric ( not an e-scooter company but an Electric vehicle as a service company ). There are many other startups. But with connected bicycles, it would have added to the health economy of our country also ( these days, no one wants to walk - one can say that we don't have good roads to walk on and specifically these startups - e-bikes - are there everywhere on the pathways also ). But assume government policies like that in every major startup hub - only cycles allowed or public transport, then we are enforcing a good habit ( focus on the word enforcing and good ). Probably, I will write in detail about the end-mile connectivity startups in my next blog. Till then enjoy a small piece on one of the IoT implementations. 

Connected Cycles - Another use case of IoT

In this busy schedule of 8 am to 5 pm, one thing that people are most worried about is health. With the kind of diet, pressure in the office, and daily busy routine, it's a bit difficult to manage health properly. Where it's a bit more physical to run daily, people prefer cycling, swimming, or some physical gaming activity. When we talk about cycling, most of us from childhood use that as a mode of commuting from our home to school or even to our colleges.

In this new era of technology, with the available resources people are interested to see how they are doing in every particular field how much they are spending on daily household groceries, how many hours they are spending while commuting, or how their car is performing. Similarly, people who do cycling as a hobby would like to see how much effort they are putting in while cycling, how much energy they are burning, and what the last route they took, in fact, they would like to share the same with their fellow cyclist just to see the comparison in the performance.

Proposed Device 

Mountable device A battery / Solar powered power device with AES encryption, built-in GPRS / Bluetooth connectivity for uplink connectivity, an automated lock, and the following sensors. 

1. Accelerometer 
2. GPS 
3. Gyroscope.

Hardware features would have been 

1. Low-power device with battery backup and Solar charging 
2. Uplink - 4G or Bluetooth-based (Bluetooth-based wouldn't have worked for an anti-theft feature or tracking feature ). 
3. A robust - IP67 kind of enclosure 

Data collected by the device from all these sensors is pushed to the connected cycle platform in real time using GPRS or using Bluetooth to the user's mobile phone and from there to the central cloud using 4G/5G (whenever there is activity in the sensor). Once data is received on the server, multiple types of analytics can run on top of the data collected like the amount of calories burnt, performance of the cycle, requirement of service, and usage. The same data is also made available over the Android application for the user along with other relevant data.

Old design - Didn't think of the lock system. 

New designs by startups working in smart bicycle lock space - like ilockit ( image credit to ilockit team )

One question can be why not simply use a mobile phone application to monitor how much distance I have traveled or how many calories I have burned. The answer is simple, yes you can, but with a device fitted to cycle, you can have a lock also and an anti-theft feature. 

Connected bicycle platform 

A connected bicycle platform where data from the devices collected can be stored, analyzed, and displayed. The same platform also exposes REST API following API first methodology (it gives us leverage to develop other applications as well as distribute the data to the users to develop their own dashboard - more user engagement).

Features 

1. User IoT sensor data display - Display of data pushed by the application like real-time position (accurate position with the help of Assisted GPS), average speed, distance traveled, any incident of fall, battery consumption, usage, calories burnt, and requirement of bike servicing. 
2. Cyclist community - Organise and share the cycling event in the community, invite other users, share the experience, share moments, and rent / Exchange cycles. Share real-time weather data, organize events, and meetups, invite non-cyclists to join the network, and share your thoughts. 
3. Cycle insurance, service  Track real-time usage of the cycle, real-time location, prevent theft, and crash alerts, see nearby service centers in the city, arrange pick-up for service, see the latest offers, and buy insurance for your cycle.