1st Place Rocket, Napoleon Insight to Industry Award, Category Finalist – Extreme & Specialized Environments
Sentinel: Wearable communication and data collection system for HAZMAT work
Workers in environments posed of hazardous materials face harmful threats that carry risk to their health, and surrounding environment. Common tasks require extensive planning, use of specialized tools, and coordination from various workers and organizations.
The lack of communication is the root of many present-day challenges. Limited situational awareness through low visibility and understanding of chemical hazard locations, audio-only data sharing with other on-site and base station workers, and the carrying/handling of various devices using bulky PPE makes it tedious to effectively do Hazmat-related tasks efficiently.
Through the integration of a chest-mounted thermal and optical camera, along with an oxygen sensor, situational awareness can greatly increase with relatively minimal changes to current hazmat operations. Guided by a forearm-mounted display, along with data being shared with the command centre and back, Sentinel fosters a new way to approach hazmat related tasks in an informed manner, creating a new generation of the connected Hazmat worker.
About the Designer
Devang Ghosh, Carleton
Devang is a research-driven industrial designer focused on pragmatic solutions through an iterative prototyping and user testing process. He holds a passion for designing medical and emergency equipment. He believes good design for complex environments comes from holistic contextual understanding and aims to apply this approach to all his work.