It’s quite surprising how many people don’t know the Heimlich maneuver. Rather than taking five minutes to look up a simple tutorial on YouTube, most folks would rather live in ignorance until one of their friends or family starts choking on a piece of food or worse… something which isn’t food. By then, it’s usually too late.

But this topic is getting a bit too dark. Let’s switch gears. In this age where just about anything that can be made will be made, it was only a matter of time before someone thought of making an automated anti-choking device.

YouTube video

The lifewand is designed by medical engineers to remove any obstruction in a child’s throat; be it food, plastic, or a tiny LEGO block. To get it to work, all you have to do is place the device over the child’s nose and mouth like a baby Xenomorph from Alien. Once the lifewand covers a face, it activates a pressure-sensitive vacuum which sucks out whatever may be obstructing the person’s throat.

While the lifewand was made primarily for children, there are variants for different age groups. There’s a small mask for kids aged 1-6 years old, a medium mask for those between 6-13, and a large mask for those 14 years old and up.

lifewand

Lifewand was designed to be portable and easy to hang on a wall, so even if your kids aren’t around, you could potentially save the life of one of your house guests by placing the device over their face. Sure, they might find it a bit weird at first, but they’ll be thanking you later once their windpipe is unobstructed and they’re still drawing breath.

lifewand

The Lifewand project is currently on Indiegogo, where currently has a backing of 20% out of its $300,000 flexible goal with a month to go. Earlybird offers are still available and shipping is estimated for December 2019. If you can’t be bothered to learn the Heimlich maneuver or just want an automated method of preventing choking hazards, find more details there.

Author

Carlos wrestles gators, and by gators, we mean words. He also loves good design, good books, and good coffee.