class project ... plz help! (long)

ok, for one of my classes we have to think of a product idea and market it to the professor. i chose to "create" a heat-activated safety device for a car, after hearing about the 2 children in the midwest dying in a car while thier mother was getting her hair done.

the concept: there would be a thermal sensor in the car and upon reaching a certain temperature, a secondary system would engage... an infrared camera in the car would scan for variations in temperature, and if it found something that resembled a human or pet, the windows would be lowered an inch or two, a ventilation fan would engage, and an alarm would sound. i was also thinking that this could be incorporated into a system such as onstar, so that the location could be pin-pointed and authorities could be notified.

my questions to you:
is there anything even remotely similar to this on the market already, that i could use as a foundation for my ficticious product?

do you have any idea what something like this might cost to build and have installed?

can anyone give me any kind of diagrams or other related information that would confuse and impress my professor?

i know it's a bit ridiculous, but i thought it would be a good project. luckily i don't actually have to make a working model or anything (and it doesn't have to be very technical considering it's a business class)... it's all in theory. well, theory and lots of B.S.

i just thought i'd pick your brains for any ideas. thanks!

[Racing Rice]

Sounds like a good idea, I dont know any of the information you want tho. Good Luck on your project.. Maybe itll land you something big with the automakers..

[TonitrusEN]

GM is looking at technology as a possible solution to these tragedies. However, because this technology is in development and won't be ready until the middle of the decade, we need to get across the message that it is never, ever acceptable to leave a young child unattended in or around a motor vehicle.

Taken from safekids.com, in an article about child death in hot cars... so the answer about existing technology is no... but someones working on it.

If you do it first and become rich i need 65,000 for a supra i lke, fyi

Originally posted by XdiscontensionX
ok, for one of my classes we have to think of a product idea and market it to the professor. i chose to "create" a heat-activated safety device for a car, after hearing about the 2 children in the midwest dying in a car while thier mother was getting her hair done.

the concept: there would be a thermal sensor in the car and upon reaching a certain temperature, a secondary system would engage... an infrared camera in the car would scan for variations in temperature, and if it found something that resembled a human or pet, the windows would be lowered an inch or two, a ventilation fan would engage, and an alarm would sound. i was also thinking that this could be incorporated into a system such as onstar, so that the location could be pin-pointed and authorities could be notified.

my questions to you:
is there anything even remotely similar to this on the market already, that i could use as a foundation for my ficticious product?

do you have any idea what something like this might cost to build and have installed?

can anyone give me any kind of diagrams or other related information that would confuse and impress my professor?

i know it's a bit ridiculous, but i thought it would be a good project. luckily i don't actually have to make a working model or anything (and it doesn't have to be very technical considering it's a business class)... it's all in theory. well, theory and lots of B.S.

i just thought i'd pick your brains for any ideas. thanks!

In regard to something similar to onstar, Mercedes has that thing where if you need roadside assistance and you press the button, the Mercedes people will come. There's also that lojack security thing. Remember the level sensors that you were telling me about to protect my rims? Maybe you could use something like to detect the movement. You know how Volkswagons have the remote control windows? Maybe you could incorporate the technological specifics of how those operate into the whole process of when the infrared camera detects the high temperature or people. If you thought of this already, my bad. You know what's sad? That some lady actually locked her kids in the car and they died and that's what gave you inspiration for this assignment.

[ebpda9]

try the nthsa site. i had all my project done with info there on the dangers of airbags

The processing power to identify human-like temperature variations would be difficult and probably unreliable. It would need to identify a full-size adult and a newborn baby, also dogs, cats, etc. to be a really good system. I'm not saying it's impossible, I think it's actually a very good idea, but it is difficult.

There are other mechanisms that can be used. For instance sonic motion detectors could maybe be used, they tend to be very sensitive. I'm not sure how well they'd work just for the inside of a car, but also a sleeping baby may not make any motion for sometime....so that wouldn't be the end of it either.

Similar to alarm technology, I would suggest an array of sensors with intelligent filtering built in to the system. For instance, if the thermal sensor triggers the system, it should enter into the checking phase. Then if one of the other sensors triggers, such as the motion sensor (that is somehow fixed just on the iside of the car), then the system should enter into a heightened state of alert, or a warning state. Then if one of the other sensors thinks it has detected something then maybe the alarm safety system should activate and trigger the alarm.

Other sensors to consider:

Seat occupancy sensors. Some cars already come with them to notify you of seatbelts or to automatically disable front airbags if the weight is too low.

Child seat occupancy sensors that use a standard system for communicating with heat sensor alarms, so if there is an occupied child seat in the vehicle the alarm system will be aware of it and remain in a heightened state of alert.

Audio sensors. Listen for sounds made by children or human voice that is at such a level it must be from inside the vehicle.

One must keep anti-theft in mind, though.

Uhhhhh....hope I didn't just do your project for you. Anyhow, sounds like it's already under consideration, but will the prof know that?

b

thanks everyone, i hadn't thought of the seat occupancy thing yet. i was thinking of something kind of like it though.... a child seat that had the sensors and stuff built into it. then you could actually monitor the heart rate and body temp etc. the only problem is if you have kids who don't use a child seat or if you have pets. another idea i came up with is using thermochromic (automatically darkens when exposed to heat) smart glass to reduce the interior temp.

and yes, i just found out about GM's project thanks to Tonitrus' post. just my luck... one good idea my whole life and someone else already thought of it, lol. back to the drawing board!

[blind34_1]

Your idea is great, and everyone already gave you plenty of ideas of how to pull it off...but have you considered your target audience?

Most people that leave their kids or pets in a car in high temps are obviously not smart and/or negligent. These people would never have a system like this installed. If they were that aware, they wouldn't leave their child in the car.

but, if it was standard equipment on new cars then it might make sense. However, that point would be advertised, possibly making the buyer more aware of the amount of deaths that heat in cars has had, therefore possibly making it unneccessary.

good idea, but I guess it depends on what your professor is looking for. Is he looking for a product that will sell, or product that will work?