Innovative alarm protects your bag

Leave your bag unattended without running the risk of it being stolen. This may become a reality, as a unique concept - a small, high-tech alarm developed by Master's students at Lund University - could be on the market soon.

"I was by myself on a beach in Mexico and had to leave my bag unattended to take a swim. But while I was in the water I just couldn't relax, as I was constantly worrying about my things," says Andrew Lentz, Master's student in Entrepreneurship and Innovation and one of the students behind the innovation. "It was right then and there that I started to think of a possible solution to this problem."

In cooperation with Bo Möller and Jiang Qian, both Industrial Design program students at Lund University, the group thought of a way to construct an alarm that used Blue tooth technology to recognise the proximity of the owner via their smartphone or wearable.

"If your bag is moving and you aren't—indicating that someone else is taking it - the alarm will go off and won't stop until the bag is dropped," says Andrew Lentz.

The same technology is also used to send push notifications, so if you leave your bag behind, you will still know whether it is safe.

The alarm in its current form is very similar to a USB-stick and can be placed either inside or outside the bag using a special hook. The idea is to produce the alarm in common bag colours, such as black or silver, to match the zipper, so that the alarm doesn't stand out too much.

"You can also put the alarm in "do not open" mode using your personal code. If thieves open and ransack your bag without moving it, the alarm will still go off," says Andrew Lentz.

The alarm was designed after extensive research about thieves' behaviour and ways of operating: "We know that thieves are very likely to drop a bag if a high-pitched alarm suddenly goes off, as the most important thing to them is not to be seen and get caught."