Wearable devices are becoming more common. Most of these devices have very limited uses, with some existing only to keep track of how many steps a person has taken in a short amount of time. More ambitious devices are beginning to enter the market, but whether or not these devices will find any success is suspect. Many people are showing interest in wearable technology, but this does not mean that these people will be using these devices on a daily basis.
Currently, one of the major selling points of wearable devices is that they can simply do what smartphones already do, but better. Smartphones are quite capable of doing anything a pair of augmented reality glasses or a smartwatch can do. These devices have been equipped with features that are considered “new” to the field of wearable technology for years. While some wearable devices may be able to outshine smartphones, they can only manage to do so by having a very specific focus on a particular purpose. Smartphones, however, are not restricted to a singular focus and can do many things very effectively.
Wearable devices may have very limited market appeal. Because they do not actually offer something new, apart from how a person uses a mobile device, they may be a hard sell to consumers. Many people are happy to use their smartphones and tablets in public, and these devices have become something of a fashion accessory for people everywhere. Wearable devices do not have the same appeal currently. Augmented reality glasses, for instance, are not designed with appearance in mind. As such, those interested in such devices may shy away from using them because of how they look, and how these devices will make them look in public.
Wearable technology does have a future, but what that future looks like is difficult to say for certain. In the early days of mobile technology, there was uncertainty regarding how popular mobile phones would be. Wearables may well be the next smartphone, if they can manage to overcome some of the challenges that they will experience in society.
The aptly named product is designed to be worn by women as a form of self defense mechanism.
Yasmine Mustafa has designed a new form of wearable technology that can be worn by women who want to feel self assured and empowered everywhere they go, in the way that the designer feels when she hears the song called “Roar” by Katy Perry.
That’s why she gave her mobile gadget the same name as the hit song.
The purpose of this wearable technology is to help to keep women safe from assault and is the latest invention that Mustafa has created. She is one member of a team of five that is currently working on a version of the small mobile device that works as a flashing light and a high pitched alarm that can work to attract attention to someone who is being attacked, while distracting, disorienting, and hopefully scaring off the attacker.
The Roar wearable technology is a small and lightweight module that is about the size of a quarter.
The design of these wearables makes it easy for a woman to attach it to nearly anything, from clothing to shoes, from handbags to jewelry, or even to a smartphone. Mustafa explained that “The alarm and flashing light will startle the attacker, providing the victim with an opportunity to escape.”
In order to use this mobile device, the wearer simply needs to press a button and the light and sound functions will begin. Moreover, a text message with a link to the location of the wearer is also automatically sent to the people who have been pre-programmed into her contact list. Mustafa added that the device can also activate a call to 911 emergency services.
Mustafa is the head of the Philadelphia chapter of the Girl Develop It program. She was inspired with the idea after having gone on a trip on her own for half a year to South America. While she was there, she said that she had come across an “overwhelming number of women who had been assaulted.” Once she returned to her own home town, there were reports that there was a young woman who was raped in her own neighborhood of Center City. She’d had enough and decided to use wearable technology to help woman to protect themselves against these attacks.
