SoaPen Wins UNICEF’s Wearables for Good Challenge

A wearable soap that helps limit the spread of infectious viruses by encouraging hand washing is sharing top honors as a winner of the Wearables for Good challenge run by UNICEF as well as tech/design firms ARM and frog.
 
Launched in May 2015 the Wearables for Good competition is focused on moving the perception of wearables from nice-to-have devices to life-saving products that could work in any environment. The competition atttracted 2,000 registrants from 65 countries that resulted in 250 design submissions.
 
The other winner us Khushi Baby, a data-storing necklace that provides a personal immunization record for children.  
 
SoaPen is a personal hygiene tool in the form of a soap-crayon that encourages the habit of handwashing among school children from the ages of 3-6 years. Teachers and parents can draw or write on a child’s skin to make the act of hand-washing engaging while reducing the spread of disease. It was created by Amanat Anand, Junho Byun, Yogita Agrawal, Amanat Anand and Shubham Issar. The team met while pursuing our Bachelor of Fine Art with a focus in Industrial design at Parsons School of Design, New York.
 
According to its creators, the exterior shell of SoaPen can be peeled to reveal more soap as it dwindles with use. Being markable on skin, SoaPen proposes a fun familial activity wherein the parent clearly draws out critical cleaning areas on the child’s hand. The child will then enthusiastically engage in handwashing- awaiting the visually clear reward of unmarked hands. SoaPen also has a screw on cap, which loops in a string allowing the user to easily carry it by wearing it around the neck, wrist or tying it to a backpack.
 
 “We believe that a serious problem can be solved through a simple and fun solution. Our focus is to reduce infant mortality rates and the spread of disease by promoting the habit of hand washing with soap among children. SoaPen taps into the power of the two directional awareness flow between adults and children all over the world, with the aim to reach as many hands as fast as possible,” noted Issar in a statement provided by UNICEF.
 
“UNICEF scans the near-future horizon focusing on areas undergoing rapid changes that could have a significant impact on children. By showing how wearables and sensors can be re-imagined for low-tech and unconnected environments, our winners were able to demonstrate the potential life-saving benefits these innovations can offer,” added Erica Kochi, co-lead and co-founder of UNICEF Innovation said. “These results are really promising — if I told you 10 years ago that I thought mobile phones could strengthen national health systems, you would have told me I’m crazy. I’m excited to see if wearable and sensor technologies could be the next mobile revolution.”
 
The Wearables for Good challenge winners will receiving funding ($15,000) plus an idea incubation prize package to be supplied by UNICEF, ARM and frog. Winners will also receive mentorship prizes from contributing partners who will be engaged over the coming months.
 
According to the competiton website, the SoaPen team is working with industry mentors to help test the viability of SoaPen and detect and overcome its immediate shortfalls. They are developing a soap that can leave a mark on the skin without harming it and yet wash off with ease, while having a simple production technique.