Future Technologies, Ideas & Opinions
Poll results: Your ideas for Nokia Locate Sensor
By Mike on 16 March 2009
GLOBAL – The Nokia Locate Sensor concept from NRC is one of those topics that continues to resonate with many of you, and is certainly a subject that has gripped the team here on Conversations. If you’re coming to this fresh, let me bring you up to speed. Last month we asked you for your suggestions on possible alternative uses for the Nokia Locate Sensor – the idea being purely for us all to dredge our grey matter for some smart ideas that we’ll then attempt to run past the NRC team responsible for Nokia Locate Sensor, simply to get some feedback from the people behind this pioneering research project.
Having gathered together a heap of interesting ideas from Conversations readers in mid-February, towards the tail-end of the month we ran a poll to herd your collective opinions on the top three ideas that we should present the NRC team with. The results have been counted, so click through to find out which ideas we’ll be running past the Nokia Locate Sensor team and hoping to get feedback on.
In the top slot is the idea of making it Nokia Locate Sensor an ‘extension to Nokia Morph’ (the future technologies idea developed by NRC and Cambridge University Nanoscience Center). Next is the idea of Nokia Locate Sensor being used as a ‘child monitoring tool’. And the third idea we’ll be taking to the NRC team responsible for Nokia Locate Sensor is using it as a ‘bike ride tool (with Sports Tracker)’. Scroll down further for more info on each idea.
Over the next few weeks we’ll pursue some feedback and do our best to engage the Nokia Locate Sensor team on the issue of alternative uses for the basic lost-and-found concepts that are being applied.
So what sort of response do we expect from the NRC team responsible for Nokia Locate Sensor and where will this lead? Fact is, I don’t know, it’s totally open. What I do know is that many of you are keenly interested in this area of development and the notion of how it could enhance our mobile day-to-day experiences, so with that in mind we’re going to continue following this thread, and I hope you’ll continue to enjoy the ride.
Here are your top three ideas in a more detail, as originally voiced your comment suggestions.
Extension to Nokia Morph Concept
David Olorundare: “It could follow use of the ‘morph’ concept, allowing my whole enviroment to be connected to it… It would be powered by several power sources simultaneously & intelligently based on the immediate circumstance: by green energy, the environment, sound energy, a slim battery, or by mechanical movement of where its placed .e.g. attached to the wrist. By all these it will enable the locator to be used in a number of cases: Anticipate and track disease outbreaks across populations… Protect endangered species and natural resources / Monitor the health of aging, disabled, and remote individuals and communities / Share real-time data about weather and environmental hazards / Plan roads, transit services, utilities, and urban systems /Domestic use; for communicating and interacting with all ‘connected’ devices&appliances: allowing the creation a truly intelligent environment / Help in data mining work, to gather information during analysis / Act as a language translator, to interprete language between any two people of different background;allowing the bridging of sociological and geographic gaps and barriers.”
Child monitoring tool
Nuno Pereira: “I think this technology could be used to keep track of kids in day nursery (+4years old)…”
Alcatraz: “Keeping track of kids in shopping malls. There is no bigger gut-wrenching feeling than letting your kids hand go for 1 minute then suddenly discovering they’ve wandered off and you can’t see them.”
Bike ride tool – linked to Sports Tracker
Dion O’Neill: “I’d like to use one of these on bike rides. I often drop my brother when we are riding and it would be great to have a warning go off when that happens so I know to slow down and wait for him to catch up. Link it into Sportstracker and then it could tag the places I drop him, as well ! A additional signal when the sensor comes back into range would also be great.”
Your thoughts, as ever, below.
Related posts:
- Nokia Locate Sensor team comment on your ideas
- Nokia Locate Sensor poll – vote for the best idea!
- Nokia Locate Sensor: Your ideas?
Tags | Nokia Locate Sensor, NRC, poll
March 16th, 2009 at 11:39 am
> Child monitoring tool
I am fundamentally against this use for two reasons.
Firstly it leads to parents of very young children being more lax – “I can always find him if I need to” and therefore not paying attention to what they are doing. Very young children can get into very serious trouble even within a few feet if parents don’t pay attention.
Secondly it leads directly to the question of at what age is it okay for the child to go off on their own without having to carry the sensor. I believe it is extremely important for parents to allow their children the freedom of opportunity to explore the world on their own without tracking their movements.
See Free Range Kids : http://freerangekids.wordpress.com/
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Mike Reply:
March 16th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
@David Durant, That’s an interesting opinion, and a couple of good points. As for my opinion, as a father of two very young kids, on this suggested use I see it as a tool that wouldn’t affect the parenting practices (or natural instincts), but rather could act as an extra safeguard. Of course, such a tool could never replace eye-on-child supervision, but should a momentary lapse of concentration occur, such a use could prove invaluable when every second counts. Especially if you’ve got a few kids in something such as a playground environment. No? Your second point is equally thought provoking, however laden with a such a vast sea of variables such as culture, location, and age, to make it impossible to draw any lines in the sand. Or should that be sandpit.
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Nuno Pereira Reply:
March 16th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
@David Durant, like Mike said, it is indeed a good point, but reading it, i have the feeling that you don’t have kids yet.
If i take my son on a walk or to the mall, i’ll do my best to have him allways on my sight, but as manny of us know, sometimes bad things happen.
As an example, two days ago, here in Portugal, some guy left his 9 months son inside his car for 3 hours, resulting on the death of the young. The man used to drop his kid on day-care, and go to his work, that was 100 feet far from it..
I know it is streched, but imagine that this father used this kind of technology… Today, he’d be laughing about what happened. (ok, laughing in the outside, because i can only imagine how it feels to pass by this ).
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March 16th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
I forgot to post the link to the source, so here it is:
http://jn.sapo.pt/paginainicial/interior.aspx?content_id=1168103
( Portuguese source… Sorry for no translation )
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March 17th, 2009 at 3:19 am
I wish it will be cheaper.
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March 17th, 2009 at 8:17 am
Illusionado, what do you mean by cheaper ?
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Nuno Pereira Reply:
March 17th, 2009 at 8:49 am
@SoulBlade, i think he means that Nokia Locate Sensor should be cheaper…
If i remember correctly, some rumours announced something arround 100€ for each sensor, number that i personlaly find Big, but i don’t give rumours that importance…
Let’s wait and see, and hope for the best.
Btw, despite the (possible) high price may turn this device an elitist technology, the situations it can help prevent are priceless.
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March 18th, 2009 at 5:19 am
i would often like a lost cell locating sensor
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Nuno Pereira Reply:
March 18th, 2009 at 5:40 pm
@shiv, there are manny aplications that can use phone’s built in gps to send coordinates to user when lost/stolen.. All you need is a phone with built in gps receiver!
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March 21st, 2009 at 9:14 am
good
The Nokia blog – provides Nokia the most recent information, the handset, the evaluation, the fitting, the subject, the game, the software, services and so on N-Gage
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March 28th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Nokia Locate Sensor would be of help to those travelling overseas, especially in crime infested countries where kidnappings are rampant. Try bringing it along when you find time to visit the Philippines, who knows it would be your last resort…
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