A company in Oakland, California has created a product that could give college students an extra sense of security.
ROBOCOPP’s founder, Sam Mansen, originally created the Sound Grenade for his sister who was in college because it was the best option to keep her safe when walking home alone.
“The Sound Grenade is basically a tiny device, like a keychain, that makes a really loud sound,” ROBOCOPP’s public relations director Jill Turner said.
The device, weighing about an ounce, is called the Sound Grenade because in order to activate the alarm you remove a small pin from the keychain.
Sound Grenade works something like a car alarm, when it’s set off it emits an alarm sound at 120 decibels.
The Sound Grenade is a criminal deterrent – meaning once the alarm goes off attackers may be scared away – and can also be used to ward off animals during outdoor activities like camping or hiking.
Freshman Stormy Torres said she would use the Sound Grenade.
“I would consider using this because if I was going camping or walking home late at night it would be a very useful tool to let other people know ‘hey, I’m in distress’ without harming myself,” she said. “And it would probably give me enough time to get away if something like that happened.”
Turner said the Sound Grenade is the smallest alarm available, which makes it convenient for college students and deceiving to attackers.
“It’s the smallest personal alarm that you can find,” Turner said, clarifying that the Sound Grenade is the smallest, lightest and loudest personal alarm available.
ROBOCOPP has issued a challenge to students to find a personal alarm that beats the Sound Grenade in size, weight and volume.
“If you can find something that fits those three criteria that is smaller, lighter and louder, we have this thing called the ROBOCOPP challenge where we’ll actually provide the Sound Grenade for free for your entire freshman class,” Turner said.
The Sound Grenade can be found on Amazon and dormco.com. Demonstrations and reviews for the product can be found at ROBOCOPP.com.
