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

Feast your eyes on the making of 'Heisei Mary'

This is a time-lapse video of  Japanese artist  Shohei Otomo drawing Heisei Mary  — a naked Sailor Moon-like figure completely covered in tattoos. The highly-detailed body ink features Spiderman, Darth Vader, Hello Kitty, Naruto, Street Fighter and Dragon Ball characters to name a few. It's really satisfying to see an artist's process, the way their illustration grows and grows out of nothing. Shohei is known for his hyper-realistic sketches using ballpoint pens. Born in Tokyo in 1980, he is the son of Katsuhiro Otomo, the creator of the manga Akira . He exhibits his work regularly in Japan and Australia as well as in Mexico and France.  Three weeks worth of work are sped up into less than four minutes.

The building blocks of your childhood dreams have finally arrived

Mini Materials in Winter Springs, Florida produces beautiful miniaturized construction materials at 1:12 scale. The cinder blocks are made from actual cement, the bricks are made from real terra cotta, and the pallets (which double as coasters) are built from real wood. For added durability you'll probably want to use their mortar that's thankfully easier to mix than the real thing. Whether you want to build your own miniature version of Winterfell Castle, the White House, or the X-Mansion, Mini Materials will let you make them as sturdy as their real-life counterparts. [h/t: Uncrate ]

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.