A university student has created a special wristband that can alert friends and bar staff if someone is being sexually harassed on a night out.
Beatriz Carvalho created the discreet colour-changing wristband, which she has called Lux, along with a corresponding smartphone app that allows the wearer to send a distress signal if they find themselves in a threatening or intimidating situation.
The device works by linking to the app, which friends can join before heading out and staff can join on arrival. Tapping the wristband once will trigger an alert to friends and double tapping will make the wristband light up and send a signal to bar and nightclub staff.
Carvalho, who studies product design at Edinburgh Napier University, invented the concept after she was harassed as a teenager.
“I settled on creating something that was educational as well as preventative,” the 21-year-old explains.
“The aim of Lux is first and foremost to help keep its wearer safe. It’s also there to identify behaviour on nights out that is going too far and to help educate the perpetrator that this sort of thing isn’t acceptable.”
Carvalho went on to describe the wristband as a “personal project”.
“I experienced harassment while I was at High School and there are certain triggers that bring that horrible memory back.
“It’s the same for people who have experienced something like this in a nightclub or at a gig.
“No one should be scared of going out and Lux could be the difference for many – it could act like a safety net.”
Carvalho’s project was unveiled at the Edinburgh Napier Degree Show earlier this month.
