Notify

Your personal notifier...

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Inspiration

Rape and sexual harassment are a huge problem in our world and they continue to increase.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) 2016 Personal Safety Survey, one in five women (18% or 1.7 million) and one in 20 men (4.7% or 428,800) have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15.

According to Global News, about 35% of women globally have experienced physical or sexual violence recently.

In South Africa, 3 out of every 4 women have experienced some form of abuse in the past year.

This isn't all. These are just some of the reported cases of rape and sexual harassment. There are so many more, which makes this a humongous problem, which MUST be resolved for the better good.

During these stressful situations, traditional ways of seeking help are not viable and they are also expected. Making a phone call, opening an application on your cell phone is, etc. and assistance is required at the click of a button.

So, I created Notify.

What it does

Notify is your own personal notifier. It is a device and an app. Using notify you can send emergency messages through the click of a button.

The Notify Device: The device is a wearable asset that you can use at the click of a button e.g. button on your watch, on your earrings, lockets, or even purse that will send multiple notifications for help. The help can include notifications to police, friends, everyone in a 1-mile-radius, and etc...

When the user clicks the button on the notify device, the phone app uses an Emergency mechanism to send multiple notifications to your pre-configured list along with your location.

The Notify App: The Notify App is installed on your phone and it disguises as a weather app. So, no one but you will know of it.

How I built it

Proto.io, Android Studio, Arduino

Challenges I ran into

It was very hard to build the app, I was quite new to the software and I didn't have much prior experience of using it either. Regardless, of that, I continued to work hard and in the end, I achieved great results.

To add on, with only 24 hours to create a working prototype app, I had more ideas to implement than time allowed so I was challenged to narrow down my app's features but perhaps save the other ideas for the future.

What I learned and Accomplishments I am proud of

In the technical aspect, I improved my proficiencies in creating mobile apps, while learning how to solve problems when a particular tool fails to work.

What's next for Notify

I plan to implement these changes for Notify in the next 3 months:

The Notify device will become smaller and will be easily attachable to other objects, such as earrings, lockets, necklaces, and etc...

I will use AI to make the app more interactive and provide the users with more features. For example, if the app senses a sudden increase in the user's heart rate, it asks the user if he/she ok? If the user fails to respond, the app will automatically send a message to the police and everyone else in a 1-mile-radius or less.

Example Scenario:

Laura wants to go from her workplace to her friend’s house on a Friday night. but is concerned because the streets are dark and quiet. So, she puts her hand on the button and continues to walk.

The walk about 25 minutes long. All of a sudden, a man comes up to Laura and grabs her phone. But, not to worry, Laura still has the Notify Device in her ring. Laura immediately presses the notify device on her ring and an SMS message has been sent to the police and her family members. In addition, Laura also sent an SMS message to everyone in a 1-mile-radius

Upon receiving the message, the police arrived and they arrested the person, who was attacking Laura.

So, using Notify Laura was successfully able to rescue herself.

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