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Wearables

Smart jewelry puts out the call for help when wearer is under attack

By Nick Lavars
October 21, 2015
Smart jewelry puts out the call for help when wearer is under attack
Athena can be worn around the neck, attached to the waist or can even carried inside a bag
Athena can be worn around the neck, attached to the waist or can even carried inside a bag
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Athena can be worn around the neck, attached to the waist or can even carried inside a bag
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Athena can be worn around the neck, attached to the waist or can even carried inside a bag
To help avoid false alarms, Athena's button is recessed and must be held down for three seconds to activate the signal
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To help avoid false alarms, Athena's button is recessed and must be held down for three seconds to activate the signal
The small circular magnetic clip is equipped with Bluetooth and an activation button
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The small circular magnetic clip is equipped with Bluetooth and an activation button
When the button is pressed, Athena sends a distress signal to selected emergency contacts through the user's phone and notifies them of their whereabouts
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When the button is pressed, Athena sends a distress signal to selected emergency contacts through the user's phone and notifies them of their whereabouts
View gallery - 4 images

Pepper sprays and self-defense know-how are useful tools in protecting against violent attacks. But in the view of startup Roar, women shouldn't be made to change their lifestyles in order to feel safe. It has developed a discreet device that can be worn as a piece of jewelry and alert loved ones to their whereabouts when trouble arises.

Athena is described as smart safety jewelry and is designed to worn around the neck, attached to the waist or carried inside a bag. The small circular magnetic clip is equipped with Bluetooth and an activation button, which when pressed sends a distress signal to selected emergency contacts through the user's phone and notifies them of their location.

To help avoid false alarms, Athena's button is recessed and must be held down for three seconds to activate the signal. While this will importantly allow the user's contacts to take action it is invariably going to be some time before help arrives. So Athena is also fitted with an alarm mode, which produces an 85 decibel noise intended to immediately spook an attacker and prevent things going from bad to worse.

When the button is pressed, Athena sends a distress signal to selected emergency contacts through the user's phone and notifies them of their whereabouts
When the button is pressed, Athena sends a distress signal to selected emergency contacts through the user's phone and notifies them of their whereabouts

Conscious that this won't be the best approach to every scenario, Roar is also building a silent mode into Athena, which allows for the the distress signal to be sent out without triggering the alarm. The company also says it is working on a function that makes an automated 911 call to notify emergency services once the button is pressed.

Athena joins a number of other devices intended to offer discreet calls for help when facing a violent attack. Last year we saw a successful crowdfunding campaign for a hair clip that senses impact to the head and notifies emergency contacts. Revolar, a small personal safety device that sends a distress signal when squeezed, also met its funding goal earlier this year.

Like those mentioned above, Athen is the subject of a crowdfunding campaign and seems to be attracting a healthy amount of interest. At the time of writing, it has raised more than US$26,000 of its $40,000 goal on Indiegogo. Early pledges of $75 will have an Athena clip headed your way in May 2016 if everything goes to plan.

You can check out the pitch video below.

Source: Roar

Athena by ROAR for Good - Safety at the touch of a button

View gallery - 4 images

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WearablesSafetyIndiegogo
7 comments
Nick Lavars
Nick Lavars
Nick has been writing and editing at New Atlas for over six years, where he has covered everything from distant space probes to self-driving cars to oddball animal science. He previously spent time at The Conversation, Mashable and The Santiago Times, earning a Masters degree in communications from Melbourne’s RMIT University along the way.

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7 comments
mookins
Violence, the Patriarchy's last refuge.
JosephChiappetta
Great, new ways to prove that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away.
Support your Second Amendment rights
Fred762
Fine idea..a safety alert, but it should be considered an addition to a decent defensive firearm and training to learn to use it..an alert will possibly get the 5-Oh there to draw a chalk line around the cooling body and string up yellow tape between the trees..after the attack. Sad that folks will think they're safe bks they wear it.
JeffJustice
I already have a ring around my hip with a stunning 17K 9 stone encrusted heart penetrator.
Joseph Mertens
mookins "Violence, the Patriarchy's last refuge." Sure now what will you do when confronted? Talk it out run away ignore them? Pee or throw up on yourself? You are a victim waiting to happen and you have no recourse but suffer if you don't take practical steps. Ann Rand "You can ignore reality but you can not ignore the consequences of ignoring reality."
EmilyS
Are all of you seriously suggesting women should be carrying around a gun with them at all times so they can shoot someone who tries to attack them? That's so impractical and dangerous! Also, the point of the device was that it was made BECAUSE women said they felt unsafe carrying around a weapon that could be used against them, and they were only talking about pepper spray! Can you imagine if they had a gun, what damage an attacker could do if it was taken from the wearer? Ignoring reality is only relevant if it's your reality you're ignoring - the reality for many women is that having a firearm constantly on their person is such a dangerous and unbelievable idea that it's unfeasible to the point of insulting. I got my pepper spray taken away from me by the police when I went into a movie theater the other night, can you imagine what would have happened if I had a gun?And the racial implications alone! You're saying racially biased (or flat out racist) cops would react well to confronting a woman of color with a gun whose excuse was that it was for self-defense? Because talk about not putting your faith in the police - there are many great police officers out there, but there are also many dangerous, violent, racist police officers out there as well.
TerenceKuch
Athena should be marketed to men also. I'm pretty strong, but encountering two or three men on a dark night, or even one who's been doing pushups in prison for five years - I'm no match. I don't know that alerting my family would do much good in emergency situations - it should be 911 - but as I understand it the 911 operator will ask what the problem is, and Athena, being silent, won't respond. What will the 911 operator do then? Presumably, hang up.