Tag Archives: Emergency

Lifeaz home defibrillator can turn anyone into a life-saving hero

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Modern smartwatches like the Apple Watch are equipped with advanced sensors and algorithms that can help you contact emergency services in case of, well, an emergency. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all they can do, and people are still left at the mercy of said services arriving on time. Even if you are with someone else, the chances of that other person knowing the proper medical procedures are slim, especially when medical equipment is needed in the first place. Rather than leave it up to chance and unpredictable traffic, a new innovative device puts fate into your own hands with a portable defibrillator that can help save your family or friends’ lives, even without intensive training.

Designer: Lifeaz

Defibrillators are a common sight in many TV shows whenever someone goes into cardiac arrest for one reason or another. It might look like a simple process, but reality is less rosy. In addition to the dangerously high voltage (that requires people to shout “Clear!” before each use), using a defibrillator requires proper placement and processes, which, in turn, require proper training. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of such cardiac arrests happen outside hospitals in the US alone, resulting in delayed treatment that could have saved thousands of lives.

With plenty of technologies now available that are devoted to diagnosing body conditions, it’s about time that we get something that can actively save lives. Lifeaz is that “something,” delivering a defibrillator in a small box that can even fit inside a backpack or travel bag in case you need to go somewhere remote. Of course, its main purpose is to stay at home, ready to be used in an emergency to deliver life-saving procedures within those critical first four minutes of a cardiac arrest.

Just as important as its portability is Lifeaz’s extreme ease of use. You simply have to follow the simple instructions to activate the machine in a box and place the electrodes in the proper places, helpfully indicated by clear diagrams. From there, the device can intelligently analyze the situation and the patient’s condition in order to determine the proper settings to help the heart get back up. Users need not be trained emergency personnel and don’t even have to get actively involved other than setting up the machine and monitoring things through a mobile app.

Lifeaz has already been embraced by as many as 10,000 families in Europe and has even been credited in saving 17 lives. In the US, they are still working towards FDA certification, but there will clearly be a huge market waiting for its life-saving technology. After all, it’s one thing to be able to know when your heart isn’t in good condition and quite another matter of literal life or death to get it beating again.

The post Lifeaz home defibrillator can turn anyone into a life-saving hero first appeared on Yanko Design.

Polestar’s emergency vehicle uses autonomous drone technology to respond to catastrophe

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Polestar Duo is an itinerant vehicle that merges autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to provide emergency relief.

In the age of COVID-19, one thing’s for certain—the need for autonomous, mobile emergency services is more urgent than ever before. When faced with unprecedented crises, dwindling resources make it hard to respond with tact. Considering the modern world’s technological advantage, innovative task forces and emergency services should be made readily available to help prevent catastrophe.

Designer: Marcelo Aguiar

Marcelo Aguiar, Chief Automotive Designer at electric car startup UNITI Sweden, recently devised a concept for a vehicle that blends autonomous drone technology with a hybrid modular building to create an accessible means to respond to any disaster.

Designed for the Polestar Design Competition, Aguiar’s Polestar Duo appears like a multifunctional shipping container that travels via drone technology.

Aguiar conceptualizes Polestar Duo to be flexible, adaptable, and itinerant, to be able to “perform in a variety of scenarios adopting different functions: it can work as a rescue vehicle, be used as pop-up structure or temporary accommodation, provide support in humanitarian crisis situations, be a mobile off-grid home to enable a more itinerant lifestyle.”

Equipped with a wind turbine, the Polestar Duo operates from a pair of back-driven propellers with wings that swivel to the optimal position considering the given day’s weather and wind conditions. Before taking flight, Polestar Duo’s wings unfold by rotating along their axes.

The integrated drone technology carries Polestar Duo’s Pod, which functions as the hybrid modular building, by attaching the Pod’s roof to the drone’s base. In difficult access scenarios, Polestar Duo deploys high-strength tethers that suspend the Pod from the drone’s base.

Merging today’s appeal to sustainable design with autonomous technology, the vehicle’s overall carbon footprint remains low due to the use of recycled and lightweight building materials, re-adaptability, and local power generation. Aguiar goes on to explain that, “this reduces the load on available resources while building, and becoming, a versatile infrastructure to support societal progress.”

Twin wings unfold at Polestar Duo’s axes to take flight. 

When idle, Polestar Duo’s wings fold up.

Polestar Duo is comprised of two main parts: the drone and the folding quadcopter.

The Pod attaches to the drone’s base for secure transportation.

In difficult access scenarios, the Pod suspends from the drone’s quadcopter via high-strength tethers. 

Outside of emergency services, Polestar Duo can be used as temporary living accommodations. 

The post Polestar’s emergency vehicle uses autonomous drone technology to respond to catastrophe first appeared on Yanko Design.

This emergency flashlight doubles as a desk lamp and has built-in sensors to indicate the safest evacuation routes!

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Strix is an emergency flashlight that uses integrated sensors to provide building occupants with the safest and most efficient evacuation route during emergency situations.

Emergency situations have a way of testing our fight or flight responses. But then, some of us freeze. No matter the disaster, evacuations require quick thinking that panic tends to stifle and it’s no secret that emergencies bring out the panic.

High-rise offices and public buildings are especially vulnerable to emergency situations, requiring mass evacuations in the worst cases. Providing a means for building occupants to evacuate safely, Hanyoung Lee designed Strix, a desk lamp that transforms into an emergency flashlight that reveals the most efficient evacuation routes during disaster situations.

Given a modular build, the original form of Strix is a nondescript desk lamp with an attached light diffuser that offers a moody counterpart to Strix’s primary function.

Once disaster hits and an evacuation is required, Strix transforms into an emergency flashlight that reveals the quickest, safest way out of the building. Guiding users to safety, Lee linked Strix with the building’s programmed evacuation route systems that come alight via LED light indicators.

As opposed to following LED light strips, similar to those found in airplane aisles, Strix is handheld and portable, allowing users to bring it anywhere. While light strips are helpful in their own light, the portability feature of Strix might come in handy in the case that various evacuation routes are blocked.

During these situations, Strix adjusts the evacuation route the same way your GPS might when you take a wrong turn.

Describing the programmed evacuation light indicator, Lee notes, “The Strix sensor operates based on the beacon system to provide the user with the optimal evacuation route. It consists of a sensor that functions as a real-time location tracking [device,] as well as a sensor that shows an induction road on the floor.”

Designer: Hanyoung Lee

When there’s no emergency, Strix functions as a casual desk lamp with an attached light diffuser. 

The internal workings of Strix link up with each building’s programmed evacuation route systems. 

A charging station allows users to keep Strix full of battery for when disaster hits. 

Available in an array of different colors, Strix can match the tone of your office for use as a desk lamp. 

The light diffuser readily detaches from the flashlight for use during emergencies. 

The post This emergency flashlight doubles as a desk lamp and has built-in sensors to indicate the safest evacuation routes! first appeared on Yanko Design.

This emergency tool for your car is a glass breaker that doubles as a make-shift hammer

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Who says a typical windows glass breaker has to be concealed in the dark corners of your vehicle? This glass breaker that doubles as a hammer and designer prop breaks away all those notions!

More often than not we tend to hide away emergency use equipment like windows glass breaker, simply because they don’t go very well with the car interiors or tend to be forgotten as they are seldom used. This can lead to serious repercussions in the event of an emergency when you desperately need to break the glass to make an exit. A breaker stored in a hidden compartment or in the boot of the car – not accessible in case you are stuck in the front seats can be the difference between life and death.

Bringing the element of sanity and clever design to the good old glass breaker is the Objemer emergency car window breaker. The emergency use accessory designed for Escape Lab (a Korean startup) by BEBOP Design gets over the dangerous behavior of hiding typical breakers in places where they’ll eventually not be found when desperately needed. The idea here is to make it blend with the car’s typical dashboard and compartment storage design so that the designer accessory is always at arm’s length – ready for use.

The Objemer’s USP is its intuitive rectangular design which is an eye-pleasing prop when not in use. Since it is CNC machined the designer managed to achieve a very precise and accurate shape that looks good and most importantly maintains the sharp edge just at the right place. When required the sharp end of the window breaker concealed in the magnetic mount can be put to judicious use. It’s made from a single block of metal and also acts as a make-shift hammer for the odd task. While the design house doesn’t mention any other double utility of the car escape tool explicitly, I can think of it as a surprise self-defense prop, because you never know!

Designer: BEBOP Design for Escape Lab

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‘Two-part helmet that can be safely removed by EMTs’ declared winner of the YD x KeyShot Design Challenge

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Among hundreds of entries for the YD x KeyShot Design Challenge that asked participants to redesign the Envoy Helmet to make it safer, Jonathan Hatch’s redesign presented a clever feature – a pair of pull-tabs that allowed the helmet to split into two, making it easy for emergency medical technicians to easily and safely remove the headgear in the event of an emergency.

“My addition to the Envoy helmet concept is to improve safety for the user after an accident occurs”, Jonathan told Yanko Design. “Typically, removing an injured user’s helmet after an accident requires one EMT to stabilize the head and neck and another to cut the chin strap and pull the helmet off. The helmet removal often results in accidental repositioning of the head and neck, potentially causing additional injuries or taking up precious seconds during the rescue.”

By adding the EMT Removal Lock, the Envoy Helmet prioritizes wearer safety in virtually every scenario… even the unavoidable ones. The Envoy helmet with the EMT removal lock simplifies this procedure by allowing an EMT to split the helmet at a critical seam in seconds, all without applying any force or moving the head or neck. After the cap is separated, the user’s head remains safely cradled in the remaining shell.

Unanimously declared the Gold Winner by the YD x KeyShot Design Challenge Jury Panel, Jonathan also wins an Apple iPad along with a KeyShot Pro Licence.

Follow Yanko Design and KeyShot on Instagram to know about upcoming Design Challenges.

Designer: Jonathan Hatch

This inflatable stretcher designed for emergency missions decreases the chance of panic-induced injuries!

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The inflatable stretcher designed by Yu-Hsin Wu caters to impromptu emergency situations with the goal of lessening the effects of panic-induced injuries caused by medical personnel and/or the patient.

Life-threatening rescue situations can bring on panic in anyone, even first responders. When EMT personnel, nurses, and doctors are faced with life or death, the panic that comes with it can exacerbate preexisting injuries or worse yet, result in new injuries. In an attempt to avoid these sometimes fatal mistakes, Taiwan-based student designer Yu-Hsin Wu developed their own interpretation of an inflatable stretcher that comes equipped with medical tools and kits that ensure a successful rescue mission.

Wu’s inflatable stretcher features a similar build to everyday flotation devices like pool floats with additional fastening cushions that keep the patient in place. This inflatable stretcher also comes with integrated tools kits and medical accessories for rescuers to use on the patient before and during the ride to the hospital.

Since Wu’s inflatable stretcher comes with built-in rescue tools and clinical appliances, the medical aid given to the patient will feel intuitive and systematic. Ideal for high-traffic locations and community recreation zones, the inflatable stretcher comes packed with instructions so health professionals like lifeguards and on-site supervisors can use the stretcher with ease whenever necessary.

Lightweight and portable by design, the inflatable stretcher can be used across many different rescue circumstances, from water rescue missions to airlift emergency situations. Recognized by Golden Pin Design Awards for its innovation in the medical field, the inflatable stretcher already comes equipped with several medical tools for use during emergency crises, so no matter the location or form of transportation taken to the hospital, patients will receive preliminary care.

Summing up the design in their own words, Wu describes, “When an accident occurs, the rescuer’s emotions and strains may not be able to properly rescue. The inflatable stretcher integrates ambulance supplies and fixed equipment, it is expected that when an incident occurs, it can be quickly taken in the form of a bag, and calmly follow the instructions on the stretcher to correctly rescue.”

Designer: Yu-Hsin Wu

This CPR kit is a self-directed, sustainable, low-cost alternative for medical emergencies!

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More than 540,000 Chinese people die from sudden cardiac death each year. The survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is less than 1% in China, which is relatively lower than the other countries. CPR is the most helpful and effective implementation to save cardiac arrest victims, but the implementation of CPR is extremely low, only 4.5% in large and medium-sized cities in China, vs 46-73% in Sweden. My thesis focused on providing a flexible and efficient self-directed CPR learning solution to encourage more laypeople to learn and improve their life-saving skills.

From research, some main problems cause this low rate are that: The lay public has less motivation to join a CPR course because of fewer opportunity, fewer interests, high cost, fast-paced lifestyle, and less awareness. The less qualified full-time instructors, short supply and overworked skilled physicians are other significant barriers to teach quality life-saving skills. Besides, the CPR training equipment, such as manikins, is too expensive and the amount of it far limited for this vast population with an old training mode. Even when the public participates in CPR training, there is no consolidation training during post-training and people have less motivation to update their CPR skills.

The outcome is called CANNE, it provides a self-directed CPR learning experience for the lay public and it consists of two parts:
A corrugated cardboard Basic Life Support (BLS) learning kit that allows laypeople to practice CPR, such as cardiac arrest identification, chest compression and ventilation by themselves. The BLS self-directed application on the smartphone can significantly enhance the learning experience by simulating cardiac arrest scenarios and emergency medical services (EMS), providing real-time feedback of compression and ventilation, as well as encouraging lay people to join a final examination and granting an online BLS certificate.

CANNE provides an ecosystem to motivate laypeople to learn CPR at a low cost. It saves time and medical resources and has a minimal requirement for the learning environment. CANNE raises the survival rate of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, particularly in China, by addressing the local societal and cultural needs.

Designer: Shuai Li





Emergency product designs to prepare and rescue you from any life-threatening situations!

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Ever since COVID-19 struck our world, one thing we know for sure is that we never really know what calamity can hit us. An emergency can arise at any time, affecting us and everybody we know! Hence, in these uncertain and stressful times, it’s very important to always be prepared to handle any situation that may be thrown at us. A mindset and consequent actions of preparedness are essential. Maintaining this very attitude, designers and creators have been coming up with a wide variety of products that promise to rescue us during even the most major emergencies. From a school desk that turns into a safety shelter during earthquakes to a flotation device made using recycled plastic bottles – we have a whole range of highly functional and useful product designs that will protect you and your loved ones no matter what.

You never really know what sort of curveballs the year 2020 can throw at you. I mean we’ve had forest fires, a pandemic, murder hornets, there was a massive fireball spotted in the sky in Japan yesterday… so a mindset of preparedness is really our best shot at this point. In that very vein, the Life Triangle Desk gives children the instant shelter they need in the event of a natural disaster at school. The desk looks and functions like any writing desk, but in the event of a quake or tremor (or honestly, even an attack on a school in a war-torn area), the desk converts into a secure triangle-shaped shelter against falling debris or shrapnel. In the event of a calamity, the desk surface can be lifted up to unlock it, allowing it to slide down, creating a triangular space underneath. Given that triangles are naturally stable in shape, the desk helps protect children from any large falling items by deflecting them. The desk also helps rescue teams who will instinctively know to check underneath them for victims and survivors.

The Saviour is a modular system of interlocking tubes that help you create flotation devices. The tubes don’t float themselves, but rather, allow you to attach multiple plastic bottles around the rim to help the overall product stay afloat. You can either assemble the Saviour to form a U-shaped training apparatus or join multiple pieces to close the U, turning it into an O-shaped device that children can use as a tube. The Saviour is low-cost, and its individual modules can easily be 3D-printed based on demand. Moreover, it utilizes plastic bottles, helping recycle waste into something vastly more useful. If a plastic bottle gets damaged, it can easily be replaced with another one, allowing you to quickly upgrade/repair your training gear. Besides, the colourful bands on the Saviour help increase its visibility, allowing you to spot it floating on the water from a distance!

The Saver Whale is ideally a concept of an underwater drone designed to reach where human rescuers can’t – or shouldn’t – go. Lots of human live-saving deep water rescues happen in challenging, dangerous conditions which are difficult for diving squads to negotiate without risking injury or loss of life. Maritime rescue drones such as the Saver Whale can reach uncharted waters – reducing risk to human life – and work as scouts to deliver medical and equipment to liberate any trapped or sinking soul. The Saver Whale, equipped with cameras, sonar, and radar for detection, and a radio system for communication, can be deployed from the helicopter, to venture into depths of the hostile waters of the ocean where sending human is riskier. The drone, on detecting a survivor or diseased and can instantly relay the message to the rescue team and request assistance. In addition to calling out for backup and relaying its live location, this versatile sub can equip the survivor with a life vest, rope, and other gear from the first aid kit onboard.

This easy-to-stow collapsible wheelchair also becomes a stretcher when needed. At the simple push of a button, the Emergency Wheelchair transforms from a small suitcase-sized box to a wheelchair. The backrest and leg rest can be further adjusted to turn into a stretcher that can be manoeuvred around using the small wheels at the base. Designed for every conceivable scenario and engineered to make sure it effectively works in all conditions, the wheelchair is made of a magnesium alloy, high-strength factory plastic, and a flame retardant fabric. When not in use, it collapses back to the size of a suitcase, allowing it to be easily packed and stored back in its place.

Emergency Helper was designed to help people in the event of a fire in a building, but what makes it different is that it is a lot more than just a fire extinguisher and is aimed at helping with the side effects of the emergency as well. In case of fire, it informs the location of the fire extinguisher as well as the location of the evacuation route. When a fire breaks out, LED lights will come on from both sides and the bottom of the product, an alarm will ring the warning sound and the LED on the top-front will notify people where to evacuate from. In case the fire breaks out around the product or the product cannot be used for some reason, the smart device will spray extinguishing fluid from the front and both sides after detecting the heat around it. It also includes a hammer, flashlight, and respirators – this can help people evacuate safely and reduce respiratory stress for those with breathing problems in case of such emergencies.

The conceptual Neura project focuses on solving two issues with one product – an ambulance attachment assembled quickly for a bike to navigate dense cities easily. Neura’s intention is to get the patient to the medical facilities faster and because of how fast it can be made, it is a gift when resources are short. The form is built like a two-wheeled wagon that can be attached to a vehicle. The Neura ambulance has one stretcher for the patient and a seating place for one paramedic. It is 3.1 meters long and has been designed to be light in weight by using minimal parts. It can reach remote parts where the lanes are narrow and can conserve the use of the traditional, more well-equipped ambulances for critical patients. In countries like India, the Neura project will be very successful given the dense traffic at any given point of the day will still allow a bike to slip out to the hospital easier than a van.

HydraCell was designed to give you instant power if you were outdoors or had an emergency. The water-activated fuel cell can charge your devices and provide light for days – a must-have for campers. It is also eco-friendly, all the waste generated from creating the HydraCell is 100% biodegradable and doesn’t add to toxic landfill waste like most flashlights. When you need power during a storm or outdoors we use batteries but are they really reliable? More often than not, batteries are dead, or faulty they haven’t been used, and while you can recharge some during a power cut that is not an option. HydraCell fills this negative gap that batteries have with positive innovation. It can provide up to 100 hours of light and charge up to 10 phones with a single charge plate.

The S.Light, which should be as much of a standard carry-on accessory as a car-jack or lug-wrench, is a signaling beacon that allows drivers to know that there’s a broken-down vehicle ahead, from as far as 200 yards away, giving them enough time to react by either change lanes and avoiding a collision, or pulling up near you to help you out. The S.Light, which stands for Safe-Secure-Signal is a portable, flexible signboard that uses a rotating LED display for high visibility at night, and a collapsible reflector panel during the day. The emergency signboard comes with a strong, magnetic base and a flexible goose-neck upon which lies the rotating LED module.

While we love and care for pets as we do for our own children, there is not enough being done in terms of disaster preparedness for them. Evacuating with animals needs a lot of advanced preparation and most people are unprepared due to a lack of information or kits that are made for this specific situation. As emotional support/companion animals are increasingly becoming a new norm, we need a kit like Base which ensures their safety while doubling up as an everyday pet furniture item in the house. In the event of a disaster, you can rely on the built-in emergency kit by using Base as a carrier for your pet. The shape is inspired by a friendly cave that makes animals feel protected keeping it aligned with their natural instincts of hiding when they are scared. The product consists of two parts- the left side of the kit provides basic products and the right side can be selected by the user according to the companion animal species making it usable for a wide variety of people and pets. It also comes with rescue request stickers that help neighbors to identify the pet and help to rescue them in the case of any unfortunate events.

Obviously executing an airlift in cities isn’t particularly feasible. You’ve got buildings, cars, pedestrians, telephone wires, traffic lights, along with a dozen other complications. Helicopters, no matter how small, can’t do the job in crowded cities, and regular ambulances end up bearing the brunt of congested roads and traffic. In swoops (quite literally) the Ambular, an eVTOL designed to provide medical airlifts in cities. Ambular can take off and land without needing a helipad and can transport patients to medical centers safely, via air. Ambular comes with six propellers (three on each side) that help it take off and land vertically as well as travel through the air. Given that Ambular will work in crowded cities, it makes sense that the propellers come with pretty strong guards around them, just in case they hit or snag something and get damaged. Each propeller is capable of pushing out 20kW of power, giving the Ambular the ability to carry patients up to 250lb for as long as 15 nautical miles.

AT&T’s public safety network knows which floor first responders are on

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AT&T’s FirstNet public safety network just received some upgrades that could make all the difference in certain emergencies. Most notably, the platform now includes vertical GPS support, or Z-Axis in AT&T-speak. It’s now possible to pinpoint...

This hospital-on-wheels can travel to critical areas to immediately treat patients and victims

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An ambulance’s role is to get patients to a hospital as fast as possible. While this system remains the current norm, it basically means ambulances need to make TWO trips to fulfill their purpose – to the patient, and to the medical facility. The Mobile Hospital halves that by directly bringing the cutting-edge facilities of the hospital directly to the patient. Designed for disaster-struck areas and war-torn regions, the Mobile Hospital is a complete diagnostics center and operation theater on wheels. The vehicle is roughly the size of a semi-truck, and fits all state-of-the-art medical equipment within its rear compartment. When the hospital reaches its destination, the rear compartment expands sideways to virtually triple in size. This makes its inner cabin much more spacious, allowing the hospital to effectively and efficiently treat multiple people.

The Mobile Hospital’s interiors are divided into sectors to help boost efficiency. There’s a computer at one corner for communication purposes and for reading/creating reports, a lab at another corner, a pharmaceuticals zone in corner number 3, and a treatment-bench at the last corner. This leaves enough space in the center for an operating table complete with an MRI machine and a robotic arm for precise operations. Lastly, doors on either side of the compartment allow multiple patients to be admitted and treated at the same time… unless there’s a critical case where the hospital is sealed off for high-priority treatments and procedures. When its job is done, the hospital folds back up into its compact size and transports back to its original location.

Designer: Dors Liu