Regardless of how safe you try to be at the swimming pool, accidents can and often do, still happen. In fact, thousands of people drown while swimming each and every year. Studies have shown that drowning is the number one cause of accidents for children five years old and younger. In order to combat this, and keep swimmers safe, most public swimming pools now employ on-duty lifeguards to constantly survey and keep an eye on the swimmers. Unfortunately, it only takes a second to disappear under the water and if the lifeguard is distracted, as is often the case then there is still a very real risk of drowning.
Knowing that drowning is still such a big issue, a team of developers, doctors and scientists have come up with a possible solution; the SEAL swim monitor and drowning detection system. The SEAL promises to help decrease the numbers of accidental drownings by continually tracking the safety of the swimmer who wears the device.
How the SEAL Keeps You Safe
The SEAL uses a patented SwimSafe technology that creates a virtual wireless network between the swimmer wearing the device and parent, as well as lifeguards who each wear a small band. Data is constantly transferred between the swimmer and a central hub before being transmitted to the lifeguard and parents. Since each band in uniquely identifiable through a specific electronic signature, multiple swimmers can be tracked at once.
When a swimmer puts on a swim band, a special cover is snapped on, which instantly configures the device. Since the swim band remains in constant contact with both the central hub and the lifeguard and parent bands, the swimmer can be free to move around the pool while being monitored. The bands can also be set to specific protection levels. For beginner swimmer and younger children, the band can be configured to instantly notify the hub and other bands and trigger an alarm the instant it becomes submerged under water. There are three other protection levels, of course, with the lowest level being for more advanced swimmers that dive and submerge on a regular basis. This setting can be used to trigger the alarm if the band is submerged for longer periods of time.
The Technology Behind the SEAL
As the first ever plug and play swim monitor, there is no system to install, which means the pool does not need to be drained in order for the system to work. The system uses a central hub, or server, to constantly monitor all bands currently being used, and transmitting information about the swimmer between them all in real time. The bands feature long lasting rechargeable batteries that keep it working while the swimmer is in the pool. Once the band is removed from the charger and placed on the swimmer it instantly begins to monitor the swimmer and communicate with the hub, lifeguard band and parent bands, and does not stop until the band is returned to the charging station.
The SEAL Design Team
The design team behind the SEAL aquatic safety device is comprised of a number of professionals, including Charles Hunt, a 17 year product design veteran who has worked on such designs for Sony and HTC, and Dr. Courtney Mann, who is a child safety advocate and pediatric emergency physician. The CEO of the company is in fact trained as both an engineer and a physician, so the development of the SEAL is assured to be a great and most importantly, a safe product, when finally released for sale. There is currently no launch date set, but the company lists the SEAL device as coming soon.
