Press Release
Seniors Keeper Smart Door Lock by Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun Is Granted the A' Design Award in Idea and Conceptual Design
Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun acknowledged for idea and conceptual design by the international grand jury of the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 16, 2024 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the A' Design Award in the Idea and Conceptual Design category for Seniors Keeper Smart Door Lock by Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun, designed for University of Nottingham Ningbo China. The award was conferred within the 2023 - 2024 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who assessed anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
What the A' Design Award Means
The Iron A' Design Award is awarded to good designs that meet the rigorous professional and industrial standards set by the A' Design Awards. This recognition is reserved for works that demonstrate a solid understanding of design principles and show creativity within their execution. Recipients of the Iron A' Design Award are acknowledged for their practical innovations and contributions to their respective fields, providing solutions that improve quality of life and foster positive change. These designs are a testament to the skill and dedication of their creators, showcasing their ability to address real-world challenges through thoughtful design.
About Seniors Keeper Smart Door Lock
Seniors Keeper is a smart door lock designed for elderly people living alone. The lock connects to vital signs sensing devices such as smartwatches. When an emergency is detected at home, the lock emits red light, projects a call for help, notifies emergency contacts and opens the door automatically. Neighbours or rescue workers can then speak with the resident through the microphone and speaker built into the lock. A motor drives the lock core, so the door can be opened even when it is locked from the inside. The lock has a diameter of 70 mm and a height of 50 mm.
About Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun
Dr. Jiang Wu is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Nottingham Ningbo China. He is a senior design practitioner and researcher in integrated innovations of technology, culture, and user experiences. He was a design researcher and received his PhD degree at the Intelligent Lighting Institute of the Eindhoven University of Technology; his work focuses on designing ambient lighting systems for information displays that help boost productivity, stress management, and create information decoration.
Award Record
With this recognition, Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun is a winner of 2 A' Design Awards. The awards span the editions from 2021 - 2022 to 2023 - 2024 of the A' Design Award & Competition.
About the A' Idea and Conceptual Design Award
The A' Idea Design Award is an international idea design competition recognizing great ideas by designers, creators, innovators and free thinkers worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to idea designers, conceptual designers, innovation consultants and creative thinkers from all countries. Entries typically include innovations, prototypes, blueprints, sketches, models and concepts. Awarded idea designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/idea
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/158906
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/158906
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!158906
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/312720
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Seniors Keeper Smart Door Lock
- Function
- Smart Door Lock
- Category
- Idea and Conceptual Design
- Discipline
- Communication Design
- Industry
- Design Industry and Innovation
- Colors
- Burly Wood, Tan, Tomato, Rosy Brown and Silver
- Images
- 5
- Client
- University of Nottingham Ningbo China
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loic Faulon and Xu Sun
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2023 - 2024
- Design ID
- #158906
Credits
- Team
- Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loïc Faulon and Xu Sun
- Image Credits
- Rukai Huang, Jiang Wu, Loïc Faulon, Xu Sun
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Seniors Keeper is a smart door lock which connected with vital signs sensing devices, such as smartwatches. When elderly people encounter an emergency at home, it emits red light and projects fonts to call for help and automatically opens the door. When neighbours or rescue workers find out, they can communicate with the elderly through the microphone on the door lock to determine the elderly's situation and decide whether to enter the door to give help.
- Inspiration
- In China, the number of elderly people living alone is increasing, and more of them live in apartments. Furthermore, the standard mechanical lock cannot be opened with the key from the outside after being locked from inside. When the elderly can't open the door in an emergency at home, the neighbours can't find it in time, and the rescue team may need to spend a lot of time breaking the door, which will allow the elderly to enter a more dangerous situation.
- Research
- The research type is analytical research. The subject were elderly people who lived alone. The methodology is to find hidden pain points by collecting and collating relevant data and news reports. Data mainly comes from official data, media and research websites. The result is that more than half of China's elderly live alone, and 40% live in apartments. Elderly people dying alone, injured at home will continue to increase, and the problem of rescuing them deserves more attention.
- Challenge
- One of the challenges of this project was the design of the use flow. When the elderly have an emergency and the rescue personnel arrive, do they open the door by using fingerprints, faces, temporary passwords or using documents? Although it can ensure the monitoring of people entering the door to a certain extent, the cost of learning in a short time is too high for people who do not know. Considering the security services in the apartment and the crime rate, we decided that the door locks would open automatically.
- Realization and Technology
- The Seniors Keeper intelligent door lock uses a motor to drive the lock core, which can ensure that the lock can be automatically opened in case of internal locking. The hollow in the middle integrates LED lights, speakers and microphones, and in the centre is the fingerprint sensor. A simple projection device is installed in the side opening of the door lock, which can project the set text.
- Operation and Interaction
- In normal use, the old person can turn the knob counterclockwise to lock the door or unlock it by a fingerprint. After the induction device find the old person is abnormal, the door connected with it will unlock, go off and notify emergency contact, the LED light will flash, and the side will project “HELP!”. Rescuers can talk with the elderly through a microphone on the lock. If the elderly person permits help or does not respond, they can enter the door to give some help.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project started in June 2023 and ended in January 2024 at University of Nottingham Ningbo China.
- Specifications
- The diameter of the door lock is 70mm and the height is 50mm.
- Keywords
- Locks, seniors, smart devices, alarms, rescues, emergencies
