“I avoid driving at night. Headlights, specially the dippers glare from opposite vehicles glares my eyes. Vehicles have dipper lights for clarity over long distances, especially over the highways. But when not used wisely, the same feature causes glare and temporary blindness to the vehicle of oncoming car which ultimately may result in fatal accidents.

Whom to complain? Rather why to complain? Let’s take help of technology.

Yes we can get help of sensors and smart technology to solve this problem. Let’s create a prototype solution for this problem.

We’ll develop an automatic headlight dimmer/dipper project in which the vehicle’s headlights dim by itself when oncoming another vehicle approaches from the opposite side.

We can develop this project using Havi’s Robotic Starter Kit. This can be a winning science and technology project for schools and science fair.

For prototyping, we will create two models of non moving cars: one with regular headlights car and another with smart-sensor based headlight.

We will create two models of cars: one simple car and one automatic headlight dimmer/dipper car. For simplicity of understanding, we will make static cars.

What will you need?

Elements:

• Power – 2
• LED – 3
• Light – 1
• Flip – 1
• Extend pair – 2

Accessories:

• Car plates – 2
• Wheels – 4
• Rollers – 2
• Geared motors – 4
• LED cables – 8
• Power bank with USB cable – 2
• 3-pin cables – 2

Craft material:

• Double-sided tape – DST
• Wireties(Optional)

This project needs multiple accessories and elements that do not come into single kit. You have following options in that case.

• You can partner with friends around who have Havi Elements kits with them.
• Can buy additional required elements and accessories
• Can perform this at a school or activity centers which has Havi’s Robotics Kits.

The making

Step 1
Make 2 robotic cars. Refer this or see the below video:

Step 2
Prepare the circuit for both the cars.

Step 3
Connect the LED cables with the LED Element.

Step 4
For the car with circuit 1, stick the power bank on the backside of the car plate. Stick the LED cables in front corners using DST.

Step 5
For the car with circuit 2, stick the LED cables in front corners using DST.

Step 6
Tune the potentiometer of Light Element in such a way that it can detect the headlight of the opposite car at safe distance.

Step 7
Now, place both the cars in front of each other. Turn the Power ON. See how automatic dipper/dimmer car dims two of its headlights when there is another car at opposite side.

How does it work?

Automatic dimmer/dipper car: As you can see in the circuit, one LED element is controlled by the light sensor, and another LED element is directly controlled by the power element. The Extend element is used to better position the circuit, and the Flip element is used to trigger the light sensor.

Initially, when the circuit starts, four of the LEDs are ON, two are regular headlight LEDs and rest are dipper headlight LEDs.

The Light Element sends a YES signal when it detects light, and the Flip converts it to NO. Initially, when there is no light from opposite headlights in front of Light Element, it sends a No signal to the Flip, and the Flip converts to YES. Hence, the dipper LEDs are ON. When the Light Element senses opposite light, it sends a YES signal to the Flip, and the Flip converts to NO, hence the two dipper LEDs go OFF. That’s how the automatic dimmer/dipper headlight works.

When no vehicle is on the opposite side, the dipper headlights are on, and when there is a vehicle on the opposite side, only the dimmer is on.

Isn’t it a life saving technology? Robotics and all sort of technologies have huge potential to make human lives better and safe. We need stay creative to do so. And havi helps you in that.