pavelmachek ([info]pavelmachek) wrote,
@ 2008-03-03 19:36:00
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bioheadlight & warm-loving computer
Ok, so how does ideal headlight look like?

Produces as much light as possible? ...no, that's an atomic bomb, not headlight.

Produces as much light as possible, and lasts as long as possible? ...that's better, but it still is not what is needed. Powerful headlights blind people, and that's not good use of energy... it is also annoying.

I guess feedback based on light sensor would work. Have few separate beams, and have light sensors. If too much light would reach user's eyes, turn down that particular beam. No more blinding, and it should be pretty energy-efficient, too.

(Actually, this is inspired by riding on white horses in the dark. As soon as you lie down because of low branches, you blind yourself.... bad.)

Now... does anyone actually make a headlight like that? Is there schematics available somewhere?

As far as computers go... it seems I have one CPU that hates cooling. It gets more stable when it warms up, and after I displaced the CPU fan so that only 30% of air hits the cooler, machine seems to last longer between crashes now...



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Light to eyes
[info]stsquad
2008-03-03 09:32 pm UTC (link)
Unfortunately it's not quite as simple as that as the sensitivity of the human eye changes depending on the aperture of the iris. However it's a good idea, perhaps feedback from a sensor of the optic nerve activity or some sort of heuristic to determine the current sensitivity?

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Re: Light to eyes
[info]pavelmachek
2008-03-03 09:45 pm UTC (link)
Idea is to keep producing so little light that aperture of the iris stays maximal. (Plus, actually iris is not the problem, as iris is fast -- it reacts in less than second. There is second mechanism that takes half an hour to respond -- rhodopsin).

Actually, you should not need feedback from optic nerve. Advanced version would "simply" emulate eye to determine current rhodopsin level and current iris status... that should work well enough.

But I believe even very simple "keep incoming light below threshold" system would work very well.

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