Santam wanted to show their clients that they’re not only there for them when something goes wrong, but that they’re also committed to helping prevent things from going wrong in the first place.
Which is why they launched the Safety Ideas campaign. This project helps ordinary South Africans to turn their safety ideas into realities, by creating a platform for improving people’s lives and protecting their livelihoods, one idea at a time.
They kick-started the campaign with two safety ideas, which we built prototypes for. Both of these crafty devices required proof of concept and custom electronics. We were pretty chuffed with the outcome. The criminals, not so much.
The Jammer Scanner
The Jammer Scanner prototype housing render.
Car jamming is a game that the lowlifes of society like to play. And it goes like this: You think you’ve locked your car, but you haven’t. A car jammer’s frequency blasts the whole area, preventing your remote from communicating with your car. So you hit a button on your remote, walk away, and hey presto! a bunch of crooks now have access to your car, and all the valuable items stored inside it. But the game could soon be taken to another level with a nifty gadget called the Jammer Scanner. It’s a small device that fits on to your key ring. When the LED light is on, it means the device is powered and monitoring blocking signals. If one is sent out, the scanner detects it and alerts you with an alarm and a flashing LED light. It’s that simple.
Some of the components that we used for the prototype.
RoamAlert
Handbag snatching. It happens more often than you’d like to think. And with all the valuables that woman like to keep on them at all times, it means that ladies are either clutching onto their bags or worrying about them. And for good reason too. It only takes a moment for them to disappear. But you won’t have to worry much longer, because the good people of Santam commissioned us to build RoamAlert. It’s a simple device that you can pop into your handbag. As soon as the bag moves out of a certain range, it sends an alert to your phone via an iOS app – it’s a way of keeping an eye on your bag, without keeping an eye on your bag.