Ones to Watch: Kogii – a smart bike light to improve road safety in real time

Karl Roe, Andrea Pignanelli and Callan Eldon. (Nick Bradshaw, Fotonic).

In our Ones to Watch section, we highlight some of the top movers and shakers. This week we feature Kogii.

What is it?

Kogii is an innovative smart bike light designed to improve road safety in real-time, but also uses cyclists’ data to understand what makes a dangerous road dangerous. When a cyclist mounts a Kogii smart light underneath the saddle, the light provides the cyclist with a number of features that improve their safety while they are cycling. The data is also recorded and analysed to allow Kogii to gain new insights into the nature of our roads.

Kogii detects when a cyclist is braking, and when it does, it illuminates in a constant red beam, like a car brake light. A driver may not understand what a flashing pattern means, but they do understand what a brake light means. Furthermore, Kogii also dynamically flashes based on a car’s proximity to improve real-time visibility when traffic is nearby. Kogii also presents a number of additional features, like a daytime/night-time mode and automatic collision detection.

Who’s behind it?

The members of the Kogii team are Karl Roe, Andrea Pignanelli and Callan Eldon. Karl is a doctoral researcher in the field of sensors and middleware at University College Dublin and has a Master’s degree in Computer Science. Andrea currently works in a major tech company in Dublin and has a Master’s degree in Computer Science. Callan has a Mechanical and Electrical Engineering degree from DIT and is working on Kogii full-time.

How is it funded?

Currently Kogii is self-funded and has recently been awarded €3,000 after winning the 2018 UCD Startup Stars competition for student entrepreneurs held at NovaUCD. This money will be directly invested to continue product refinements. Kogii is now in discussion with potential investors and is planning a crowdfunding campaign following extensive product testing and customer trials.

Future plans?

Our main plan is to release better and improved versions of Kogii following success with its first iteration. We also want to move internationally and expand; wherever there are cyclists and cars, Kogii is useful. We plan on approaching governments, councils and anyone who could benefit from the data we collect and the insights we gain from it.