My idea
Originally, I wanted to create an app designed to track the health and wellbeing of endangered animals. However, I want to make it more specific and focus on tracking the health and wellbeing of giant pandas. It would have features such as a location tracker, activity/stress/sleep monitor, vitals tracker, and alerts. The way this would be tracked is through a medical wearable or chip.
Why?
Pandas have always been my favourite animal so being able to design something to improve their health would be amazing. Pandas were considered endangered since 1986 and although they no longer are, it is still very important to take great care of the remaining population, so numbers don’t drop again.
The reason they were nearly driven to extinction is due to poaching, habitat loss, and low reproductive rates. Right now, there are only 1800 pandas left in the wild.
Like any animal, pandas suffer from a range of health conditions, some of the most common being, digestive, respiratory, urinary, and nervous system. Sometimes they may suffer from fractures, tumors, or injuries from poaching which can only be resolved with surgery.
Out in the wild, it would be unknown if a panda is suffering from any of these things and they cant get the medical care they need. Therefore, having an app that can track the condition of their health and alert health professionals is necessary for maintaining and increasing the panda population.
Aim
- Increase the panda population by tracking and improving their health.
- Uncover the health issues and concerns of pandas and find solutions for them.
- Make it easier for health professionals to track the location of pandas so they can provide them with medical attention if need be.
- Keep better track of their population.
My new design question
“How can we design an effective user/animal-friendly interface to track the health and wellbeing of giant pandas?”