{"id":3023,"date":"2016-08-17T16:35:50","date_gmt":"2016-08-17T16:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/?p=3023"},"modified":"2016-08-17T16:35:50","modified_gmt":"2016-08-17T16:35:50","slug":"keith-conger-uses-motorcycle-crash-as-inspiration-for-award-winning-app","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/2016\/08\/17\/keith-conger-uses-motorcycle-crash-as-inspiration-for-award-winning-app\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith Conger Uses Motorcycle Crash as Inspiration for Award-Winning App"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Angie Bardsley, ITS Administrative Assistant<\/strong><\/p>\n

Keith Conger, ITS systems administrator, won an Invent America contest in middle school for designing an oxygen-making diving suit, and he\u2019s been inventing ever since. So it\u2019s no surprise that he turned a serious motorcycle accident into a creative opportunity. A few years ago, he was riding in three lanes of rush hour traffic when his front tire rapidly lost pressure causing him to lose control. Thanks to the protective gear he was wearing, Conger wasn\u2019t badly injured, but it got him thinking about how an app featuring audible alerts could help prevent future accidents.<\/p>\n

He worked on the app for more than a year, but shelved it to work on other projects. But when he came across Google\u2019s Android Experiments I\/O Challenge and with just a week to add the finishing touches, he was able to finish the app and submit it in early Spring 2016. Google received entries from all over the world, and Conger\u2019s app was selected as one of only five runner-up winners.<\/p>\n

To build the app, he began with the complicated process of reverse engineering the messages sent between the different computer modules on his bike, pinpointing which data points were linked to each component, such as headlights and engine temperature. After gathering as much information as he could, he custom-built the hardware, wrote the software, designed the circuit board, and fabricated a dashboard replacement using a 3D printer.<\/p>\n

His final product includes audio alerts for low tire pressure, light failure, freeze warnings when roads could become icy, and high engine temperature. The app also notifies the rider when fuel levels are low, and shows the location of the nearest gas station using Google Maps.<\/p>\n

According to Google, \u201cThe communication between apps is really useful \u2013 like being able to locate nearby gas stations. Using technology in this way is inspiring to us all.\u201d When it comes to creating new technology, Conger says he strongly supports collaboration and information sharing. While building his app, he worked with people in Australia, Germany, and the United States. He also open-source published his app. While it won\u2019t work for all motorcycles, it does provide a foundation for others to build their own versions. \u201cI believe in giving back,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

Conger now plans to build a custom seven-inch Android device to serve as his motorcycle\u2019s dashboard because none of the off-the-shelf devices have everything he wants \u2014 more inspiration for whatever he invents next!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Angie Bardsley, ITS Administrative Assistant Keith Conger, ITS systems administrator, won an Invent America contest in middle school for designing an oxygen-making diving suit, and he\u2019s been inventing ever since. So it\u2019s no surprise that he turned a serious motorcycle accident into a creative opportunity. A few years ago, he was riding in three … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Keith Conger Uses Motorcycle Crash as Inspiration for Award-Winning App”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":648,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kudos","entry"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/648"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3024,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3023\/revisions\/3024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sites.coloradocollege.edu\/atb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}