Inspiration
The most common crime on UPenn campus is the theft of unattended personal electronics. Every year, over 200 students lose their computer and all the personal data stored on it. We wanted to find a solution to this problem which allowed people who tend to work individually to move freely around public spaces like coffee shops and libraries without the stress of possible theft.
What it does
Cynsona is a USB attachment that protects personal electronic devices from theft by instantaneously notifying users when their devices are stolen, allowing them to promptly and remotely respond to the situation, as well as view the real-time location of their devices.
How it works
The user can easily activate the Cynsona protection systems when leaving their devices unattended. If Cynsona detects unwanted motion, an alarm will be triggered and the user will receive an urgent notification on their phone, allowing them to contact local police. If a false alarm should occur, the user can easily disable the alarm through a text message.
The software supporting this structure includes a server constantly listening for text messages sent to a phone number, the cloud database to transfer messages between the server and the user's laptop, and an Arduino housing all the electronics required.
What we learned
Through working on Cynsona, we learned how to constantly reiterate our solution to solve a problem. We started off with the idea of a laptop case which detected someone touching the edges to deter theft and at some point reached the idea of a device which zaps anyone trying to steal the laptop. Through market research and extensive team discussion, we were able to refine our product's features and its design, making it far more simplistic and elegant while still addressing the problem of theft of unattended electronic devices.
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