The inventions for 'everyday emergencies': Designs tackle full car parks, forgotten keys and dead phone batteries


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Have you ever panicked about whether you locked the front door, been woken by a Facebook notification or desperately needed a phone charger?

To deal with these sorts of everyday emergencies, one company has designed a range of prototype products.

You can vote on which one is your favourite - and the winner will be made into an actual product, funded through a Kickstarter campaign.

Leeds-based Direct Line is running a competition called #EverydayFix. They asked groups to design products to deal with common problems. These include forgetting to lock the door, which one company hopes to solve with their Forget Me Lock prototype, shown

Leeds-based Direct Line is running a competition called #EverydayFix. They asked groups to design products to deal with common problems. These include forgetting to lock the door, which one company hopes to solve with their Forget Me Lock prototype, shown

The products were designed as part of the Direct Line Everyday Fix design makeathon.

They asked people to pick their top ten 'everyday emergencies' - things that caused them an undue amount of stress in their daily lives.

Groups from London-based design company Makerversity were then asked to design products that could alleviate certain emergencies - and three were picked for a shortlist.

TOP 10 'EVERYDAY EMERGENCIES'

1. Not being able to sleep (46 per cent*)

2. Losing your keys (37 per cent)

3. Being stuck in traffic when already late (35 per cent)

4. Losing an important paper or document (33 per cent)

5. Nowhere to park (32 per cent)

6. Printer not working when you need to print something (31 per cent)

7. Running out of battery on your phone whilst out (31 per cent)

8. Discovering you are out of toilet roll whilst on the loo (30 per cent)

9. Dealing with machine operated customer service (26 per cent)

10.Forgetting your bank card when paying for an item (25 per cent)

*How many people thought this was a problem

In the survey of 2,000 people, the top emergency was not being able to sleep.

So a group called Instruments designed a product called 'Snooze', an alarm clock which connects with your phone and silences any notifications to ensure a good night's sleep.

To deal with not remembering if you had locked your door, ONN Studio created the Forget Me Lock - a device to reassure you that you have locked the front door.

It fastens on the key and swivels green to show the door is open, and red to signify it's locked.

Another group designed Nipper - the world's smallest mobile phone charger according to its creators, Impulse.

Any household battery can be used as its energy source, with two terminals attaching either side and then connecting to your phone to provide a boost.

Direct Line is running a competition on Twitter where you can vote for your favourite of these three products by retweeting tweets about Snooze, Forget Me Lock or Nipper.

The Forget Me Lock is coloured green and red and fastens on a key. When the key is turned in a lock it swivels green  to show the door is open, and red to signify it's locked.

The Forget Me Lock is coloured green and red and fastens on a key. When the key is turned in a lock it swivels green to show the door is open, and red to signify it's locked.

Another group designed Nipper - the world's smallest mobile phone charger according to its creators, Impulse. Any household battery can be used as its energy source, with two terminals attaching either side and then connecting to your phone to provide a boost

Another group designed Nipper - the world's smallest mobile phone charger according to its creators, Impulse. Any household battery can be used as its energy source, with two terminals attaching either side and then connecting to your phone to provide a boost

The Nipper device (shown) is designed to help people who run out of battery while they are out and about

The Nipper device (shown) is designed to help people who run out of battery while they are out and about

In the survey of 2,000 people, the top emergency was not being able to sleep. So a group called Instruments designed a product called Snooze, shown, an alarm clock which connects with your phone and silences any notifications to ensure a good night's sleep

In the survey of 2,000 people, the top emergency was not being able to sleep. So a group called Instruments designed a product called Snooze, shown, an alarm clock which connects with your phone and silences any notifications to ensure a good night's sleep

Whichever tweet has the most retweets, with the #EverydayFix hashtag, by 23 April will go into a Kickstarter fundraising campaign and ultimately into development.

'We've seen the great British designers of tomorrow create smart and simple solutions to real life everyday emergencies,' said Paul Smyth, co-founder of Makerversity.

'Through the Direct Line Everyday Fix event, we've been able to extend our role as "fixers" and work with some unique creative talent to produce a fantastic shortlist of exciting prototypes that start to solve the nation's everyday emergencies,' added John Shaw, head of R&D and Innovation at Direct Line.

Of the products that didn't make the cut, one was a helmet with 'bone conduction headphones' that gave you directions while cycling without impairing your ability to hear the environment around you.

Another was a parking pin that you could leave in a space, which would then alert you when the space was free, if you couldn't find somewhere to park.

And as another solution to your phone running out of battery, one team designed an app that lets you nominate people to receive your messages when your phone dies.

Products that didn't make the final shortlist included the Parking Pin, shown. You could leave this in a parking space, and it will alert you when the space is free, so you can park your car

Products that didn't make the final shortlist included the Parking Pin, shown. You could leave this in a parking space, and it will alert you when the space is free, so you can park your car

The Relay app, shown, would let you nominate people to receive your messages when your phone dies

The Relay app, shown, would let you nominate people to receive your messages when your phone dies

And the 'Hat Nav' was a smart helmet that used 'bone conduction headphones' to give you directions while cycling without impairing your ability to hear the environment around you

And the 'Hat Nav' was a smart helmet that used 'bone conduction headphones' to give you directions while cycling without impairing your ability to hear the environment around you



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