A
Creating a Smarter Safety Device and Tracker
Introduction
The use of personal safety tools has grown over the past few
years, with more articles and advertisements seen about them.
With the introduction of companies such as Uber and Lyft,
people are often put in unsafe situations.
Small, pocket-sized keychains can be found on Amazon or local
convenience stores but only have one use. Whether it's an alarm
or an alert tracker, none combines multiple purposes.
Those that do have more than one function are large and often
hard to turn on or activate. Some have multiple buttons or
switches, while others have far too many safety locks and
precautions to be accessed quickly enough. Even the iconic
"blue-light" boxes on college campuses are being shut off due to
accidental activations, faulty equipment, or pranks. Some
universities have started to hand out or sell handheld tools,
usually alarms that go off when a button is pressed or a tab is
pulled. While these do help, they lack the GPS alert that the call
boxes had. A combination of the two would ultimately be one of
the best and most effective solutions.
Objectives
• To create a safety tool that is both multipurpose and reusable
• For it to be affordable, durable, and waterproof
• To have said tool fit in the palm of your hand, while also being lightweight
• To prove that the prototype is functional, and makes sense in real-world situations
Other
First internal layout for the prototype.
The Placement of the tracker aligned with
sensors on the speaker’s software, causing
it to go off.
This layout also broke the waterproof
barrier and wasn't water resistant anymore.
Materials and Methods Data Analysis & Conclusion
Method
• Compile a list of all pre-existing tools that will be used in the experiment
- Order/purchase items Overall, the experiment/project was a success. So many safety tools are bulky,
- GPS Tracker Circuit Board – Amazon – 16.99 expensive, or hard to use quickly, with ones on Amazon starting at about $15, with
- Alarm Keychain – Amazon – 12.99 (pack of 10) some higher end ones being anywhere from $70 to $80. The total cost of production
- Soldering materials – home for this device would be around $17. By taking the best parts of two different products
- Extra wire - home and making them into a simple, effective device, this prototype could help those that
• Take original device, open it, and remove all internal parts live in unsafe areas or want to feel more secure when out and about. The combination
• Run waterproof tests five separate times
of an alarm and GPS has the noise element to surprise and deter, and the GPS for
-Dry and set aside
location tracking/alerting law enforcement create the ideal tool for help in a pinch.
• Open new internal pieces (wearing gloves), and label each piece
• Assemble the new product
When disassembling and reassembling the parts and pieces of the prototype, two main
- Solder parts together, connect circuits, add wires
-Test to make sure everything works together every few minutes issues arose. Most GPS trackers require a large battery pack, or a charger, as the
- Make adjustments and tweaks as needed battery drains quickly. For this model, the charger was selected to save space, but the
• Place into outer casing once done outer casing must be removed from the product to access the charger. The second,
• Run tests, and collect data smaller problem is for the case itself. The oval shape fits well in the palm of a hand,
- Pull pin out and watch for GPS activity (a yellow light will come on). but it forces each electrical piece to stack on top of one another. There were quite a few
- Run sound checks to ensure all is wired correctly accidental activations of the alarm, which is worrisome since either the tracker or
- Write final conclusions alarm went off if the tool was dropped, and the possibility of something shifting was
an issue. Aside from these, the new device works well, and even has a functioning
Prototype flashlight. The tracker, speaker, and other electrical components fit snugly in the egg-
shaped casing, which is waterproof and durable. The first test run didn’t go as planned,
as nothing activated when the pin was pulled. After tweaking the placement of one of
the circuit boards, the next trials ran smoothly. While the GPS doesn’t actively track
anything, a small light indicated that, yes, it was on and working.
The app for the GPS isn’t set up at the moment, but it will be the main part of the
project continuation next year. The idea is to download it on to a smartphone, connect
the phone to the tracker, and set up a list of contacts that will receive an emergency
message.
Waterproofing the device was much easier than expected. For trial runs, an empty
casing was filled with cotton balls and submerged under water for 30-45 seconds. It
was then removed from the water, dried on the outside, and opened to see if the cotton
balls were wet. This was repeated five times, with all five tests coming back with good
results.
Final internal view of the product. GPS tracker is seen sitting on top of the alarm
References
circuit board.
Cardoso, L. F., Sorenson, S. B., Webb, O., & Landers, S. (2019). Recent and emerging technologies: Implications for women’s
safety. Technology in Society, 58. https://doi-org.proxygsu-scob.galileo.usg.edu/10.1016/j.techsoc.2019.01.001
Jackson, L. (2019, February). Emergency Blue-Light Phones Are a Symbol of Safety. Is Symbolism Worth Thousands? Chronicle of
The prototype seen above has the shell of a pre-existing device that Higher Education, 65(20), N.PAG.
McCrea. (2016, May 19). Husson University offers students security in the palm of their hand. Bangor Daily
can be bought on Amazon, but all of the internal wiring was added News. https://bangordailynews.com/2016/05/19/news/bangor/husson-university-offers-students-security-in-the-palm-of-
hand/
their-
separately. The inside of the device had all parts removed, the sound