Thanks to the social distancing and hygiene rules adopted by millions of people all over the world, the offensive of coronavirus it seems to have become less dangerous, but the pandemic has not ended and we must remain on guard to avoid the risk of a second wave of infections. For this reason the NASA he invented a particular tool: it’s called Pulse, and it is a necklace that, vibrating, helps the wearer to resist the urge to touch your face with your hands – behavior that increases the risk of taking or spreading the coronavirus.
The importance of Pulse
Avoiding touching your face with your hands is one of the most effective ways to protect yourself from Covid-19 or to prevent it from spreading: on the one hand, in fact, touching your nose and mouth after having touched contaminated surfaces from other people’s saliva particles there is the risk of favoring the entry of the coronavirus into one’s own respiratory tract; on the other hand if those who are positive for the virus clean their nose and mouth with their hands they can contaminate the surfaces touched immediately after, and make them dangerous to others. Unfortunately, however, touching one’s face remains a instinctive behavior, which most people do unconsciously for the most varied reasons.
Break the automatism
This is where Pulse comes in. The necklace created by NASA detects the approach of the hands of the owner to the face thanks to an infrared sensor, ed it emits a small vibration whenever your hands are going to touch your face. In short, the necklace cannot physically prevent the act of touching the face, but it works as a sort of notification: even when a person is about to touch his nose and mouth without realizing it, Pulse in short tries to break the automatism. At that point, it is up to the owner to decide how to behave.
The cost: less than 5 euros
Since Pulse serves such an important purpose, NASA engineers used it to design the necklace the easiest and cheapest materials possible to find. Pulse is in fact not for sale, but is offered in the form of do it yourself project, to view or download free online to be followed step by step by those who want to make one of these accessories.
To build Pulse, therefore, simple objects are available at the hardware store or online for a few euro cents, such as electric cables, an infrared sensor, a button battery, a welding machine and little else. The only custom component of the device is the transparent plastic case to be printed in 3D – which can be made by special laboratories also in Italy at negligible costs.
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