This is the "Smart Walking Stick" an award winning project at the "4th SHAPL DESIGN CONTEST" 

In India, vast majority of elders live alone in their homes...They find it difficult to use their mobile phones even for google assistant. They want to communicate with their children but they need a practical method to do so as they simply can't use their mobile phones. but most of the elders carry a walking stick/cane to help them with walking and other needs. So we thought why not change the traditional walking stick into something useful and solve all the above problems...

The solution is a unique application of a smart device with a walking stick where all the smart features needed by the elderly should be included in a easy to operate way in their walking stick itself. The stick should act like a companion for the elderly without adding any complicated smart devices like a smartphone or laptop.

The idea was to create a walking stick that was smart, elegant, unique. It should have a simple design language which should make us stand out of the rest when it is in our hands. The number 7 shaped handle makes it easier to hold while providing a unique silhouette to the product. The stick comes in several creative colour combinations, which can be mixed and matched for different styles or personalities.

And in order to make it "smart" we had to start thinking about it's users and their needs. The elders who have not even used a phone should find it easier to learn the controls of the stick. All the controls of the stick is mounted right on the handle which makes it easier to access the controls without even moving their hands. The arrow keys gives a tactile feel to let the elders know what they have pressed while the bright display at the top delivers the information in a simple manner without any complicated menus. A single sensor is mounted right below the display to measure SPO2 and HR without even moving their fingers which makes the stick to be more user-friendly

Here's the final DESIGN...

But that's not all...We had one more idea in mind which was to make the stick appeal to a wider group of people by changing it into a fashion/style statement while also supporting the older people to walk...This is where the simple and geometric design helped us to achieve the goal.