Design Type:  PRODUCT

Designer:  Sungjoon Kim

Lifesaving tube is the most classical equipment for saving a person from drowning. However, current versions have limitations in speed and accuracy, because of their shape and dimensions. This can hinder the ability to promptly react to actual emergencies, and that could be a fatal problem for the person in danger. Rescue Stick is a small baton-shaped portable life saving equipment which provides rapid flotation assistance by throwing to a person at risk of drowning. The reasons why Rescue Stick can provide rapid and accurate assistance in the emergency situation can be divided into two types; the high effectiveness of the type of form factor and chemical reaction. First, looking at the form factor, Rescue Stick has a dimension of 170x35x50(mm) and weight of 0.9lb. Due to the thin cylindrical shape and light weight, even untrained women and children can throw the Stick far away and precisely. Cylindrical shape with biased center of mass is physically advantageous over other shapes like donut and sphere, when thrown into the air. Of course, by projecting the rescue equipment with machine gun, other shapes can also overcome the limitations and increase range and preciseness, but cost-wise, our design has a certain advantage over such expensive projection devices. Chemical reaction-wise, Rescue Stick can be inflated by the dissolvable strings. The rate of inflation is fast, reaching about 10L in 3~4 seconds. There are other materials like sodium azide, that can achieve faster inflation rate of 0.05 seconds, but the cost of external casing that can reach up to $200, which is a trade off which is almost unacceptable. In contrast, an alternative that involves other chemical compound and water costs a mere $5, but takes 20 seconds to inflate, which makes this option also unacceptable. The material we use, compressed CO2 gas in aluminum can, can pull the cost down to $15 and takes only 3~4 seconds to inflate. This is why we think that our option is an optimal choice. In addition, the Rescue Stick has a backup trigger mechanism, in case the water-based inflation does not trigger. The manual button in the middle is a necessary feature that allows unconscious person in water to easily inflate the Stick. Another important advantage of Rescue Stick is that materials used can all be recycled and no waste is left in the water after use. Just by replacing the relatively low cost compressed CO2 gas can and dissolvable string, the Stick can be recycled without much hassle.