LassieBot

LassieBot is a personal safety device for people who venture alone into the wild, and for seniors or others living alone where others might not notice their absence. LassieBot monitors the gyroscope and sends out SMS alerts to your emergency contacts when the device hasn't been moved for a long time.

LassieBot is very simple to use, and once properly set up you can largely forget about it, but you must read and understand ALL of the warnings and instructions below before LassieBot has a chance to function correctly in a real emergency.

SAFETY WARNINGS

There are many aspects to being safe while alone, and everyone should have back-up plans to cover as many contingencies as possible. LassieBot is meant to address only one of those cases, namely summoning help if you or a loved one are alone and unconscious. THERE ARE MANY WAYS IN WHICH LASSIEBOT COULD FAIL, AND I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANY FAILURES AND MAKE NO PROMISE OF ITS UTILITY FOR ANY PERSON OR ACTIVITY.

Here are some of the ways that LassieBot could fail:
* Your phone is turned off or the battery runs out.
* Your phone is charging. By default, LassieBot will not send alerts while connected to a charger, though you can change that.
* Your phone is in Airplane mode or is otherwise unable to connect to the Internet.
* LassieBot is not enabled at the time of the emergency or is poorly configured.
* There is no cellular signal when LassieBot attempts to send out alerts.
* Alerts are sent but do not reach their destinations.
* Alerts reach their destination but your contacts do not notice them in time or take appropriate actions.
* LassieBot will not work in a moving vehicle.
* There may be bugs in the implementation.
Before using, you must configure and test it, and you need to fully understand what it does and how it works.

Step 1: Identify your emergency contacts. You do that by putting the 4 letters "ICE:" at the beginning of their names. ICE stands for "In Case of Emergency", and rescue workers know to look for such contacts when treating a lone unconscious person. Taking this simple action will go a long way to improving your safety while alone even if you never install LassieBot!

Talk with your potential emergency contacts BEFORE marking them as such. Some people may not want that responsibility. Be sure to tell them to treat any alert as a real emergency though they may be false-positives. All alerts should be assumed to be actual emergencies until they learn otherwise. Consider using 2 emergency contacts.

Step 2: Select the amount of time with no motion that will trigger alerts. This should be longer than you ever go without handling your device.

Step 3: Click the big red button turning it green. At this point LassieBot is on the job and you can see that by the sticky notification in your notifications list, as well as from the tiny LassieBot icon in the very top-left corner.

Step 4: Configure and test. Clicking the check box brings up these controls. LassieBot will beep each time it gets a gyroscope event indicating that the timer has been reset. Adjust the sensitivity if needed so it always beeps when you pick it up but never when lying on a table. Also make sure it still beeps when the screen is turned off.

Click the "Send Test Alert" button and make sure that all of your emergency contacts get the message. Warn them first that you will be doing this, and make sure they respond appropriately.

Finally, uncheck the check box to hide the configuration and test controls and stop the beeping.

BATTERY WARNING

LassieBot will not allow your phone to sleep, otherwise it cannot work. This means you will need to recharge more often. This is the price you pay for the added security. Turn LassieBot off when you know you don't need it or plan to leave your phone for a long time. Just don't forget to turn it back on later.