4iiii Keep Your Eyes On The Road, And Your Cycling Data
4iiii Visual Intuition"s Sportiiiis (4iiii)
View Thumbnail Gallery
Anyone who rides a bicycle knows that it isn’t a good idea to take their eyes off the road even for a second, especially at high speeds. Yet given all the data that we now collect for training, many riders probably spend far too much time looking at the screen on their cycle computer, heart rate monitor or powermeter. A company named 4iiii could change this; they have developed a simple but innovative heads-up display that attaches to virtually any pair of sunglasses.
While the Sportiiiis won’t provide a full readout of speed, calories burned or distance, it does utilize seven multi-colored LEDs, which are positioned just outside the primary visual plane, via a small boom. This allows riders to receive data, along with audible data cues. “The idea came to me when I was running, looked down at my watch, and missed a curb,” Ian Andes, president of 4iii told BikeRadar.
Once he got up and stopped bleeding he realized there has to be a better way to display data to athletes.
The small ANT+ enabled unit mounts to virtually any sunglasses
The key to the system says Andes is to move the most crucial data to where runners or riders can see it without having to take their eyes off the road. Technological advances have allowed this be made possible, but in many ways Andes says this is really only the beginning. “How do I take the numbers on my watch, and display them to athletes,” said Andes. “Today, this technology doesn’t exist in a cost effective manner. Nor is it practical to an athlete, since the unit is attached to the head, as opposed to a fighter pilot looking at a screen. It would cause motion sickness in many athletes.”
So instead of providing the calories, distance and other data, which could still distract from a rider, it was decided to provide what he or she really needs to know. “Are they in the ‘correct’ zone for what they are trying to accomplish,” he says. “On top that, what is one of the first ways humans ‘learn” good, bad or somewhere in between, the answer: red equals bad, green equals good and yellow or orange are somewhere in between.”
World Cup downhill cyclists have secretly dabbled with similar technology over the last few years. This system uses a staff controlled communication system to tell them if they"re on pace with the leaders time by way of helmet mounted LEDs within the racer"s visual frame.
The Sportiiiis display system gives athletes information through the seven multi-colored LEDs, where the lights guide the users to the proper zone. To add to this there is a speaker on the boom – but no ear buds so to make it safe and race legal – that further provides audible information, such as "watts: 215," or "6:15 minute mile," and so on. And because the LEDs are just out of the primary visual plane, they shouldn’t distract the rider. “All data is displayed in your secondary vision,” said Andes. “You can still see the road in front of you, while ‘seeing’ the colors of where you are in relation to your desired zone in your secondary vision.”
From behind the lens: the Sprotiiiis uses LEDs to transfer cues from your data
Andes also adds that Sportiiiis opted for the ANT+ wireless technology, which he explained is pretty much the de facto standard in the athletic industry, over Bluetooth. “There are more profiles, less power consumption and more modules in the field for us to launch on. As well, ANT+ is, from our experience, easier to work with, and doesn"t charge as much to get involved.”
The device will thus be compatible with any ANT+ enabled device, meaning it should easily connect with products from Garmin, Timex, Adidas, SRAM, Bontrager, Saris and Wahoo. “Anyone who has a broadcast module, we can read from it,” says Andes.
The Sportiiiis will begin shipping next month starting at US$199 with final component pricing to be announced; regardless, this will be one to keep your eye out for.