The Dancing Traffic Light [video] | Hacker News Reader

The Dancing Traffic Light [video]

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48 pointslisper23 comments

I suspect that if this were to become a real thing, the novelty would wear off and people would return to their old habits, right?

Agreed, the 5-minute "squirrel!!!" attention span mindset of collective society would render these a poor use of funding in about....say 5 minutes

That's the beauty of the live feed, it never repeats.

It's not the unique dance moves that hold the novelty, it's that it's moving at all. And that doesn't change.

Why do you think people never stop to watch a TV in a window? It's because it's not the first TV they've seen and the feed rarely repeats there too.

As somewhat of a casual expert on jaywalking I can report that one of the chief issues that this does not solve is that inattention and carelessness--not lack of slavish obedience to lights--are primary sources of danger in urban street crossing scenarios. Keep your head on a swivel.

I always say watch the cars, not the lights.

That makes me wonder if the dancing light creates more risk. What happened when the light turned green in the video? I know what I did, I carefully started watching the green man, waiting to see if he would also dance, or do something cool. Do you really want people crossing the street, being less likely to look both ways because they're busy watching to see if the light does something fun? If a car runs a red, I feel like more people would be caught off guard with this light.

I had a similar thought. This hypothesis could also be applied to red light cameras.

How does this apply to red light cameras? If you're too distracted by a camera you probably shouldn't be crossing the street to begin with.

I'm referring to the effect red light cameras have on drivers rather than pedestrians.

Reminds me of the musical staircase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw

Volkswagen actually did a bunch through Fun Theory.

http://www.thefuntheory.com/

Really cool. I wish the team behind this would publish an article on the making of. I'd love to know how they built this. Especially for legality and such? I doubt government would go "yeah sure, replace the safety signs designed to keep people safe with your project". Does anyone have any ideas on how they did this?

Not exactly an article, but here's a brief video from them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4ZrOn8y-XE

This is great, thanks!

I think this was just an ad campaign at that traffic light and not actually going to be implemented everywhere in the city.

As far as how they built it, seems like basic computer vision.

If you really wanted to simplify it, just use a Kinect. :)

I think this is cool, I mean probably once used people will still cross on red lights however even if can save 2% of them is worth a try (especially for tourists). Last, I think this can have a nice effects of kids and the next gens.

I think it's cool because people are dancing and smiling and having fun, even interacting with each other a little more. If it increases safety, that's just a bonus.

Love be the idea, even if it could be recorded and music played so peds could hear it.

Will this era be known for a glut of optimistic but worthless technologies?

Isn't every era?

Love the idea. I wonder if it makes people dance on the edge of the of the sidewalk!

What would happen if two people went into the box?

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