Haven: A hackathon win that felt like a purpose.
This is the Winning Project of Salesforce’s Hackathon for Working Professionals, made in two weeks, and very close to my heart.
TLDR: https://deepshikasakthivel.wixstudio.com/haven
Before moving into the project,
I didn’t build Haven for a hackathon. I built it because I wish something like it existed when I needed it most.
In a world where women are taught to shrink, to stay silent, and to stay safe rather than feel safe — I chose to fight back with design. Haven is not just a project; it’s a rebellion. A tiny SOS ring born from rage, empathy, and a deeply personal mission: to make safety wearable, accessible, and beautifully invisible.
Now, about the project.
The participants can choose any topic that could make a girl’s life easier.
A very clear problem statement for the current scenario (and out of personal experiences) was found — Lack of safety outdoors/indoors, sexual harassment, street teasing, random strangers following on roads, etc.
Women around the world live with a quiet fear — on roads, in autos, inside offices, and sometimes in their own homes. Irrespective of age, location, literacy rate, & many other factors included, every human must feel safe, & get access to help instantly, at all times.
Designing a safe ecosystem for women is my goal now, & I started digging. I tried to uncover what people do when they meet an uncomfortable scenario like stalking, following, or even worse stuff.
- Talking to people around me, including my family, friends, parents, reading Instagram & Reddit comments etc. were my only source of primary research.
- Understanding current offerings in the market in terms of apps, devices like smartwatches, pendants, keychains etc, the user base & reviews, were my secondary research.
Let’s take a character to easily catchup, Anitha.
We found out these findings from the interviews and anonymous reviews online:
- When something bad happens, there’s no time to unlock a phone, call a helpline, or even scream. We needed something more intuitive, more immediate — more invisible.
How do we make it easier for women to commute & move around in this world?
2. Current solutions like Location sharing, SOS clicks, Watch SOS, Helpline numbers etc. are present. But mostly, the usage of mobile phones, internet or connectivity is required in an emergency to get help, which is highly unfeasible at times. Also, the solutions may be flashy and attract the predator’s attention.
How do we make it more accessible to alert quickly, also discreet, so that the user is safe?
3. We went through lots of competitors/solution providers, but none of them solved for discreetness, immediate accessibility, and no-network zones.
We found another interesting behavioral science insight from our research.
In moments of panic, the body forgets complexity. But it remembers motion.
That is where our research ended, and the project planning started.
But why a ring? Pendants were easily doubted for hidden cameras & is in an easily snatchable place. Also, not all pendants work well with all outfits. A ring will look like a normal ring or a smart ring, & can be activated with discreet finger taps.
We want to make this ring accessible & easy for people who have vision issues too so that they easily recognise the tappable area at times of distress. That is why we introduced 2 kinds of surfaces and touch activation.
When in a problem, tap the ring 9+ times, your emergency contact will get your location, the police will get your location and your profile details, & your live camera feed will be sent to the police dept from your ring.
To rule out the issue of network connectivity, We started studying the concept of a pigeon tracker ring. A pigeon tracker or a bird tracker can track birds across continents by using satellite signals. If a small ring could do it, the same tech can be applied in Haven ring.
Using satellite signals for SOS is a way better option, due to it’s reach & independence of mobile network/wifi.
Imagine a with & without Haven situation now.
Let’s get into the actual product now.
Flow will start from pre delivery of the product, to educating the user & making them use the product.
The project didn’t end here. I conducted a concept testing with the prototypes made and explained the scenario to many women in my circle, from all age groups. We found out that the impact was high internally for a girl, and externally to the society!
And the best review I got for this product presentation post-Hackathon is,
“You named the price as 3k for the ring, I would not mind investing 3k for my school-going daughter. Instead of buying a mobile and sending it with her to school, I will buy this ring and feel safe enough to send her out! I would be the first customer to buy it if it came to the market 🙂”
- A father of a 5 year old kiddo from Chennai
“I take cabs late at night after my shift. Just knowing I can press my ring if something feels wrong gives me courage I never had before.”
— A Night-shift nurse from Chennai
“My college is two hours away. I walk through lonely roads every day. Haven feels like carrying a little piece of safety with me.”
— A 19 year old student from Delhi
“I don’t want to carry pepper spray or weapons. Haven is discreet. It doesn’t scream ‘I’m scared.’ It’s part of me.”
— A 34 year old IT worker from Bengaluru
Haven is more than a project. It’s a whisper to every girl who’s ever felt afraid: We see you. We’re building for you.
This is just the beginning. I am in the process of patenting this, & I hope to partner with IoT developers to bring this to life. Because every woman deserves to walk home without fear — and sleep without planning an escape route.
We didn’t sleep that night. But if this ever goes live, maybe someone else could sleep better
If there are any investors, IoT devs, or anyone interested in seeing this in the real world, let’s discuss making this a reality and bringing a real haven, to all women out there! 🙏🏽
