Experts say that swimming is a great form of exercise because it involves the movement of your whole body against the resistance of water. However, drowning is the world’s third leading cause of accidental death, resulting in 372,000 deaths per year and 42 deaths per hour. Combine this with children being at the highest risk, and it becomes a sport many are reluctant to indulge in.
A Spanish startup is seeking to change this narrative. Wuanap, a smartlife collar has been designed to keep its wearers from drowning even if they become unconscious. Meant for children of ages from 3 to 14, the smart LifeCollar is fitted to the neck of the wearer, so it is comfortable and easy to wear. If the child becomes unconscious in the water for any reason, the neoprene collar’s inflation system is automatically activated within five seconds of a person becoming unconscious.
There are seven situations in which Wuanap is inflated: unconsciousness; immobility; panic attacks; seizures; exceeding your breath-holding limit; pressing the manual panic button, and screaming underwater. The moment Wuanap is activated, it will launch an SOS signal to the parents. Aside from being a useful, practical, and comfortable safety system that is unprecedented in the market, Wuanap can be linked to a smartphone app where parents can control and activate the device from their phone and even program how far the child can be away from them.
In many cases, when families are out on vacation, supervision is a must and WUANAP focuses on providing security for parents. Not only does this product exist for kids, but for parents as well. Featuring a motherboard with sensors coordinated by an algorithm, it detects when a person is in distress and inflates to keep their chin, nose and mouth high above the surface of the water, allowing them to breathe even if unconscious.
WUANAP will be available for use in the spring of 2021 but can be purchased now for the whole family with early bird discount through Indiegogo.
Source: PR Newswire