TrackPack: a smart backpack for horse riders

When Kato Borms, a student at Belgium’s MCT Howest, was looking for inspiration in planning their Multimedia and Creative Technologies project, their equine pursuits came to mind.

TrackPack is a smart backpack designed for horse riders. It features turn signals, automatic lights, and route tracking.

Hardware

• Raspberry Pi 4 (2GB)
• LDR (light-dependent resistor)
• Buttons and LEDs
• LCD display
• NEO-8M GPS module (keeps track of where you are)
• A backpack in keeping with your personal sartorial preferences

Python, Javascript, HTML, CSS were all used in the building of this project.

What does TrackPack do?

Picture the scene: you’re trotting along and want to turn left down a bridle path, but you don’t want to get cut up by a cyclist coming up from behind (you’re in Europe, remember, and riding on the right). Don’t worry! TrackPack will light up the cluster of red LEDs on the left hand side of your backpack to let people know your horse’s next move.

TrackPack’s on-board GPS makes sure you’re following the route, and activates the turn signals automatically as you approach turns.

On Kato’s website, you can find a route, keep track of all previous rides, and manage the horses you ride using a MySQL database.

The reverse side of the backpack’s front flap, with all the LED wires poking through and the LCD screen stitched on

How is it made?

All of the electronics were hand-soldered on printed PCBs; Kato warns that you may want to order pre-soldered PCBs online if you’d like to skip this tedious part of the build process. They popped the little red lights through the front flap of the backpack and wired them up behind the scenes, and sewed the LCD screen onto the backpack. This displays the device’s IP address, though it doesn’t show up very well on the photo below.

All of the code and fritzing diagrams are freely available on Kato’s GitHub. If you need an extra helping hand making your own TrackPack, Kato has shared a step-by-step guide in this Instructables post.

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