Unfortunately child sexual abuse (CSA) is still happening around the world, but one woman is working on a solution that may help younger children. Daphne Chen, a student at Georgia Tech and lover of hackathons, has created a prototype called Safe Short. If a child is touched in an inappropriate area, a LED signals the issue and within a few seconds a voice recorder is activated. So far her device uses an Adafruit FLORA microcontroller with conductive thread to sense touch.
Here’s a few statistics about the seriousness of the issue from nonprofit Darkness to Light:
- One in 10 children will be sexually abused before age 18
- Of children who are sexually abused, 20% are abused before the age of 8
- 90% of child sexual abuse victims know their abuser
- Only 4-8% of child sexual abuse cases are fabricated
Congratulations to Daphne Chen for focusing her project on such a critical issue facing youth. It’s a great idea that could lead to an embedded product or a detachable accessory. If you would like to create wearable tech to tackle an issue, check out our Getting Started With FLORA learning guide. It has everything you need to know to start your journey on stitchable electronics. How will you help the world?
Every Wednesday is Wearable Wednesday here at Adafruit! We’re bringing you the blinkiest, most fashionable, innovative, and useful wearables from around the web and in our own original projects featuring our wearable Arduino-compatible platform, FLORA. Be sure to post up your wearables projects in the forums or send us a link and you might be featured here on Wearable Wednesday!