SKT Introduces 'Smart Protector 2', a Safety Care Wearable Device for Vulnerable Social Groups

SK Telecom has released an IoT-based wearable location identification device ‘Smart Protector2’ for the safe care of vulnerable social groups such as elderly people with dementia, developmental disabilities, and preschoolers.

'Smart Protector 2' is a successor to 'Smart Protector' released by SKT in 2019 and is equipped with more advanced technologies.

In particular, it is expected that the location verification function, which is the core of IoT devices, will greatly contribute to safer care for vulnerable social groups.

SKT said that it has been able to confirm the location without any restrictions indoors or outdoors by applying Hybrid Positioning System, which uses LTE Cat.M1, GPS, and wireless LAN, which are exclusive networks for IoT covering the whole country, to Smart Protector 2.

The guardian can set the wearer's activity area in the dedicated app of 'Smart Protector 2'. If the wearer gets out of the activity area, it is possible to receive notification and to share the location information of the wearer with several people if necessary.

In addition, it is expected to contribute to reducing personal and social difficulties caused by the search for missing persons of the wearer by providing information on the error range considering the measurement method when the guardian checks the wearer's location.

Moreover, "Smart Protector 2" offers health information such as heart rate, oxygen saturation, activity (number of steps), sleep health condition (saturated oxygen in sleep blood), and fall detection function for the safety of the wearer.

The guardian can send an emergency message like “I am concerned. Please call me." if the wearer's situation seems not good. The wearer can easily and quickly ask for help from the guardian by pressing the SOS emergency call button on the device.

Smart Protector 2 supports IP68-grade dustproof, waterproof, overheating detection, and automatic blocking functions, and is applied with an ergonomic design that does not burden daily life. The remaining battery can be monitored at all times and can be used for 2 ~ 3 days with charging once.

In line with the commercialization of Smart Protector 2, SKT has decided to provide more than 30 people with developmental disabilities living in Ulsan City with the cooperation of the Ulsan Developmental Disabilities Supporting Center (Director Kim, Min-Kyung, Ulsan Development Center).

Starting September 1, the Ulsan Development Center will receive applications for the use of Smart Protector 2 from families with developmental disabilities in areas where safety care is needed and will provide devices to those selected and support related communication costs for 2 years.

SKT and Ulsan Development Center also plan to develop monitoring services that link "Smart Protector 2" to city hall or health centers with the request or consent of guardians and wearers to prevent the disappearance of people with developmental disabilities who received "Smart Protector 2."

“We are introducing Smart Protector 2 by actively reflecting the voices of existing smart protector users.” "We will use SKT's advanced ICT to take care of the safety of vulnerable people and create a good example of ESG management.", said Shin Yong-Sik, CO head of IoT, SK Telecom.

Reported by Smart City Today