Handheld safety & information aid terminal

 “Pathfinder” is the handheld safety & information aid terminal in natural park safety system. It is easy to use even for the complete novice, and provides increased safety and confidence for hikers, bikers, climbers and sailors. Apart from the robust materials, the ergonomically sculped body for hand holding and again, the ergonomically arranged buttons for single hand operation, the compass form is purposely designed as a metaphor.

More and more visitors pour into the national natural parks every year. Safety is the foremost concern. Facilitated by ground-based or space-based (such as the Motorola Iridium satellites) network, safety and information aid service can be provided by natural park safety system. “Pathfinder” is the hand-held terminal in the system.

It contains microphone and voice recognition software, a transducer, a battery, a speaker, and a LCD screen. It cannot tell a user his exact location; it is not a Global Positioning System (GPS) device. It functions within the extent of certain natural parks, serving as the terminal in natural park safety system. Smart Kiosks will be preprogrammed and placed in the park to dispense information or allow access via the “Pathfinder”.

Safety: The user can activate an emergency radio beacon allowing a Ranger to quickly find him anywhere in the backcountry. Speaking “Help” allows the user to activate the beacon even if he is immobilized.

Park Information and Access: Speaking into the microphone using keywords “info” can get info from smart kiosks.

Location Aid: An LCD displays the direction and distance to the nearest ranger station.

DESIGN PRINCIPLE

+ have multiple uses

+ Hands-free operation for emergency

+ “wearable” device

+ be lightweight

+ be rugged

+ be easily repairable

+ be easy to modify

Designed by Suning Chen and Meng Li. Model in Rhino 2.0, render in 3DS Max and prototype with foam and ABS.