Update - We WON!
Weekend PPE Hackathon
This weekend I participated in the JCRMRG Health Hackathon to engineer solutions and address the need for PPE, or personal protective equipment. After months of research and design work on the Jersey City Face Shield project, I wanted to continue to be involved in solving the PPE needs in my community.
I joined the Hackathon with my friends Casey (Art/Maker-space Teacher) and Liz (Industrial Design Student, NJIT). We spent the entire weekend and even pulled an all-nighter on Sunday night to complete the hackathon.
We initially set out to solve the problem of needing to use an inhaler frequently while trying to keep your mask on. This was solved fairly simply by creating a double-flap design from an existing mask design, so we pivoted our thinking to a new challenge.
With the constant need for hand sanitizer, even small bottles of Purell are hard to stash. We started by envisioning a bracelet that could hold hand sanitizer, and continued to refine our idea.
After 48 hours, we came up with:
READY. SET. WEARABLES.
Ready Set Wearables enables you to carry essential items like hand sanitizer, a collapsable door pull, or emergency medication - right on your wristwatch.
Here's our pitch video:
We are excited to present “Ready Set Wearables” a set of watchband accessories that are ready to help you carry today’s necessities. We will reduce anxiety, increase compliance with CDC health regulations, and save lives by slowing the spread of COVID-19.
How can we carry things when we don’t have a purse or pockets? How can we make that act as convenient as possible? As we sought to solve our problems, we sketched, hacked, made CAD models, 3D printed prototypes, and eventually arrived at a solution that balances wearability, functionality, and popular fashion aesthetics.
We took inspiration from the “Everyday Carry Movement.” Everyday carry is about minimalism and functionality. You can’t fit a lot in your pockets, so the items you choose need to be designed to perfectly suit your needs. Whether you’re working out, forgetful, or wearing women’s clothing, sometimes stuffing your pockets just isn’t the best option - if you have pockets at all.
Ready Set Wearables enables you to carry essential items like hand sanitizer, a door pull, or emergency medication - right on your wristwatch. With the ability to pack these "new necessities" onto the wristwatch that you already wear, they will never be left behind again.
We came together with specific expertise in design, business, and engineering and collaborated seamlessly. We are also proud of the solutions we were able to deliver in such a short period of time and of Liz for making amazing renderings of our team's design.
We learned to streamline our design process and improved our ability to convey ideas and information as succinctly as possible. I ideated, created mood boards, sketched, researched, storyboarded, collaborated on script, and edited the video.
Process Photos:
Renders
