Skip to main content

This wristband inflates to save wearers from drowning

You've got your bikini, your surfboard and your sunscreen, your about to hit the water but wait you also need this.


   A new emergency wristband called Kingii has turned up on Indiegogo that motivates slightly weak swimmers to gain more comfort and confidence in the water. The company's founder, Tom Agapiades, had a friend who drowned in a lake three years ago, and this motivated him to create the portable flotation device.

   Kingii, named after a type of lizard that is found mainly in northern Australia and southern New Guinea, has a silver handle that when pulled, a small orange bag pops out and inflates automatically and drags the wearer to the surface of the water. 


   The device is said to be as reliable as a conventional life jacket, as well as more comfortable and less bulky. It weighs just under 5 ounces, available in a "one size fits most" version, and provides buoyancy to people older than six, and to adults in excess of 124 kilograms (275 lbs).

   The wearable tech uses a compressed air cylinder (CO2) and that cartridge is replaceable. However, the cylinders are uniquely designed to fit the Kingii, so you can't just go buy a standard one from a hardware store or a DIY shop. According to the company, shortly after their Indiegogo campaign is over, they will open an "online store where you can purchase recharge cylinders."


   Kingii has already surpassed the original funding requirement by over 660% with 26 days left from the campaign. Check out the video below to learn more about the device:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Adorable Sculptures of Yen Yen Lo

These images are from a series of wall sculptures created by Yen Yen Lo . Here you can see her intricately textured ceramic pieces, looking downright adorable. Yen Yen Lo's eye for the unique and whimsical is delightful. Apparently they are not intended for kids under 16. Fifteen-year-olds cannot be trusted with fragile stuff. Get them a Funko Pop instead.

Enigmatic Shapes and Psychedelic Patterns

To say that I love Sanagi 's work is an understatement. Looking at her art feels sort of therapeutic, and I find her drawings refreshingly intricate. They're trippy, psychedelic, and resemble something that you might see under a microscope. Not much is Googleable about Sanagi, but that's fine. There aren't many artists these days that still pull off the whole mysterious vibe, so I commend her for that. By the way... they're all hand-drawn with pen and ink.

Poshichi's Digital Take on Nihonga

Using digital tools, Poshichi makes nihonga-style pictures of everyday life. These images can be anywhere from funny to calm, thoughtful, imaginative, or even a bit wild. It's a wonderful harmony: the past rendered perfectly in the present. Nihonga is basically Japanese painting that gets its look from using mineral pigments (and sometimes ink) on surfaces like silk or paper. The term was created back in the Meiji period (1868–1912) just so people could tell it apart from Yōga, which is what they called Western-style painting. Art was everywhere in Poshichi's childhood: the grandfather ran a framing shop, and the grandma was an art teacher. Poshichi loved to draw, and was destined for an art career. But, you know how it goes—life had other plans. Thankfully, a friend encouraged the Japanese artist not to quit drawing, even if just as a hobby. Though Poshichi initially created dark, gloomy pieces due to depression, adopting a cat two years ago changed everything. “I felt the nee...