Ripple. To some it’s delicious fortified wine. To others, one of the more accessible Grateful Dead tracks. To others still, it’s a Silicon Valley startup that makes milk out of peas. You can add yet another name to the list — Ripple Network Technology, which shares little more than a vaguely evocative name with those other parties.
This Florida-based team has designed a small wearable, roughly penny-sized that serves as a sort of panic button. The system leverages Tunstall, a health care monitoring group. Three clicks of little square Bluetooth device triggers the network, giving the wearer immediate access to emergency services, 24/7, utilizing geolocation to send first responders directly to them.
Designed by the team that helped create Misfit’s iconic modular Shine wearable, it’s designed to be small and out of the way until the wearer needs it – and still accessible when they do, in cases where they don’t want to draw attention to themselves – as evidenced by the perhaps too-whimsical promotional animation involving one Ripple user accidentally slicing a finger off while making dinner.
The team is taking to Kickstarter to launch the device, offering the product up for $129, which includes a year of the Tunstall service. The startup has also team with jeweler Louis Tamis & Sons to create a sterling silver version that will run $70 more.
Both are expected to ship in April.