While reading yet another newspaper report of a sexual assault on women, Pasagada Hemanjani had an idea one day during her summer holidays two years ago.
The 9{+t}{+h}class student of Rushi Vidyalaya and Gurukulam at Boduvalasa village on the outskirts of Visakhapatnam noticed that most of the victims had their clothes torn.
“What if clothes could be made to generate signals when torn so that police and relatives are alerted,” she wondered.
It helped that Hemanjani’s father, P.M.D. Prasad, is a communications engineer with the Railways. He supported the idea and agreed to assist in her efforts to design such clothing.
“I tried and failed 11 times, but did not give up hope,” said Hemanjani. “I achieved success during the 12{+t}{+h}trial.”
She worked on her father’s idea that clothes could send out communication signals if thin metal strings could be woven into them. To find material that lends itself to such wiring, they visited handloom weavers’ workshops at Ponduru in Srikakulam district to understand the different types of zari that go into the making of handloom cotton saris and shirts.
Hemanjani experimented with several textiles before arriving at just the right clothing. Metal threads are woven into the textile, and connected to a mobile phone. When the wiring is torn, the electronic circuitry triggers a call from the phone to pre-defined numbers.
As many as five emergency numbers can be stored in the mobile phone. During an emergency, the numbers get continuous calls. If the mobile phone of the victim has GPS facility, its exact location can be transmitted.
Mr. Prasad designed a triggering circuit and made certain modifications to the software to generate calls. The father-daughter duo tried some dry runs, and it worked.
Ms. Hemanjani is trying to get a patent for her product.
“This product would have helped in saving Aditi,” the little girl who died after falling into a drain and swept out to sea recently, said Mr. Prasad.
Hemanjani, a 9th class student, has woven metal threads into a textile and connected them to a mobile phone. When torn, the electronic circuitry triggers a call from the phone to pre-defined numbers
