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Electronic Headband to Make Swimming Safer — Parallax Forums

Electronic Headband to Make Swimming Safer

ercoerco Posts: 20,256
edited 2013-08-31 09:10 in General Discussion
A good and noble use of technology to keep kids safe.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/future-is-now/swimming-made-safer-with-this-headband-145633514.html?vp=1

Comments

  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-08-27 17:39
    It looks like a great system.

    However, for me personally it didn't work so well.

    Even though I was sitting on the shoreline, my deep thoughts kept setting it off.

    ec283a9629981be169a97f0312b3e28c.jpg
  • WBA ConsultingWBA Consulting Posts: 2,934
    edited 2013-08-27 17:41
    Good article. I read about the headband a year or so ago in a trade magazine for medical products. Nice to see it making the news and getting public attention.
  • rod1963rod1963 Posts: 752
    edited 2013-08-27 20:36
    A solution looking for a problem.

    Look, if the pool is so crowded the lifeguards can't do their job of watching kids, then it's time to limit the amount of swimmers. Also any pool that mandated the use of such devices, I would not trust with my or anyone else's kids, as it indicates that management has either hired sub-standard personnel to watch the kids or in engaging in practices where the lifeguards can no longer monitor the swimmers.
  • FranklinFranklin Posts: 4,747
    edited 2013-08-27 22:18
    Perhaps this could be adapted. http://vimeo.com/43038579
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-08-29 05:55
    rod1963 wrote: »
    A solution looking for a problem.

    Classic! :)

    Obviously, they should simply remove the water from the pool, this is the only way to completely eliminate the danger of drowning. Pshaw on their foolish attempts at applying technology!
  • Oldbitcollector (Jeff)Oldbitcollector (Jeff) Posts: 8,091
    edited 2013-08-29 09:59
    I see these like bike helmets.. When I was a kid back in the late 70s, early 80s, a bike helmets wasn't something that many parents thought about. Now, if I didn't buy my child a bike helmet, (a good idea btw) I'm potentially seen as a bad parent. I suspect an item like this might go the same way. Or at least the designer hopes so. :)
  • dmagnusdmagnus Posts: 271
    edited 2013-08-29 10:10
    "Obviously, they should simply remove the water from the pool, this is the only way to completely eliminate the danger of drowning. Pshaw on their foolish attempts at applying technology!"

    Ahh, but then the kids would fall down and hurt themselves on that hard concrete. So, make 'em wear bike helmets.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-08-29 10:30
    After football, bikes are the second leading cause of head trauma in kids. Its easy to get the girls to avoid football, but now that they are bigger, (and riding two wheelers) its harder to keep them in their helmets.

    Remember the days before seatbelts? My buddy had an old Buick with a metal dashboard. All they had to do was hose if off after the previous owners accident, and it was good to go.

    Those were the days!
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-08-29 17:35
    Braino,

    If the powers that be manage to constrain you so much that you can never hurt yourself...well...how bored do you have to get before you have to kill the powers that be?

    Skip the seat belts and air bags and ABS and all that nonsense. It should be compulsory that every car has a very sharp spike sticking out of the steering wheel such that in any sudden deceleration the driver is immediately stabbed to death.

    With that in place we might see traffic accident injuries and fatalities reduced to almost zero.

    By the way, why is catching terrorists such a priority when so many of your countrymen are killed on the roads by, well, your own countrymen?
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2013-08-30 12:19
    I wonder how this works. Radio waves don't propagate too well in water, although it might be using a low frequency. Not sound, not light. Brain waves? Some people would object to having a radio transmitter in contact with their child's temples. The video shows something on the rope float, implied to be a receiver or transponder. I might prefer a headband that releases a tethered sonde that pops to the surface and then does the radio linkup.
  • User NameUser Name Posts: 1,451
    edited 2013-08-30 13:05
    Heater. wrote: »
    By the way, why is catching terrorists such a priority when so many of your countrymen are killed on the roads by, well, your own countrymen?

    Heater, you really ought to stop writing things that make sense. It's unseemly. :)
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-08-30 13:40
    Tracy Allen wrote: »
    I wonder how this works. Radio waves don't propagate too well in water, although it might be using a low frequency. Not sound, not light. ....

    It appears to be acoustic. Sonar has been used for years, so maybe they ping if they're down for too long.

    "...Small, highly sensitive Hydrophone Receivers located along the pool’s perimeter, immediately acknowledge the distress signal from the Wahooo Sensor...."

    http://www.wahooosms.com/Product_Demo/System_Tutorial/

    Probably sucks if you get your head stuck in a pipe, though.
  • Heater.Heater. Posts: 21,230
    edited 2013-08-30 16:20
    I was wondering about that. Possibly it's the other way around. In air the thing can "ping" back to home base. Under water it cannot. After some timeout the alarm is raised.

    Or maybe it just does not work at all, like that recently exposed bomb detector scam.

    Anyway, parents, it's like this: if you leave your kids unattended you might well lose them.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2013-08-30 19:00
    181068264693_2.jpg

    Back when I was a lifeguard, we re-purposed some cushy toilet seats to prevent kids from drowning. Sure, the kids could still swim under water somewhat, but it was nearly impossible for them to drown.

    Of course, we had some problems with the kids who leaped off the high dive. But, hey, when you've got a sure-fire method of preventing drownings, what's an internal decapitation or two?
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,664
    edited 2013-08-31 09:01
    That could involve fancy processing at the hydrophone end to separate the distress from the acoustic noise you'd expect in a pool full of children. Maybe ultrasonic at 25kHz or higher? If it is acoustic, that would open possibility of triangulation, although with reflections and multipath I know from experience that is not so easy.
  • prof_brainoprof_braino Posts: 4,313
    edited 2013-08-31 09:10
    Heater. wrote: »
    If the powers that be manage to constrain you so much that you can never hurt yourself...well...how bored do you have to get before you have to kill the powers that be?

    NOW yer talkin'!
    By the way, why is catching terrorists such a priority when so many of your countrymen are killed on the roads by, well, your own countrymen?

    I can't speak for my countrymen, I live in the city. But I think its because they are just jerks.
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