Idea 048 - The beat of the crowd - badge

This post is part of the 100 project ideas project. #The100DayProject. I am looking for feedback. Comment below or DM me via social media Instagram, Twitter.

One Line Pitch

Radio badge that pulses when other badges are nearby

Description

A small badge with 6 LEDs in a circle. Can be pinned onto a shirt and worn as a broch.

Every 1 sec the badge broadcasts a Bluetooth beacon frame and pluses the lights.

Every time the badge receives a broadcast bluetooth beacon frame it pluses the lights. The more badges around the more the badge will pulse. If there are a lot of badges around the badge will pulse rapidly with excitement.

The pulse animation can be based on several different features of the bluetooth beacon frame. Single strength, frequency. Each beacon broadcast frame could contain a unique identifier that the badges record. The more people it interacts with the happier it is.

The ID could be used to identify people of the same group randomly around the world. Say you are part of a geocaching group and you wear your badge to a music festival unrelated to geocaching and your badge starts to pulse. You know your people are nearby and you can seek each other out for a conversation.

It could be used for fetishes. You know someone around you at a music festival is into the same fetish you are and is open to meeting up with other people who are also interested. Simlare to Horga’hn statue from Star Trek

A horga’hn was a statuette that served as a fertility symbol on Risa, and represented the Risian symbol of sexuality. It came in many sizes, from small carvings to statues to a hotel with a giant horga’hn built into it. It was believed that to own one was to call forth its powers. Displaying one publicly indicated that one was seeking jamaharon, a mysterious and pleasurable practice native to that world.

Unsorted ideas

• The badge could vibrate when it recives other badges, in addtion to the light pulses.
• Distance measurement: The badge could use Bluetooth signal strength to estimate the distance between itself and nearby badges. Then the light pattern could visulize the distance so people can find each other in the crowds.
• Bonus points if it is a heart rate monitor, and they create some kind of effect with crowds getting closer together and with elevated heart rates

Prior art

I don’t think I have seen anything like this before

Market

People who want to show off what groups they belong to