Work Details

About The Project

Team Oreo developed Locate Me, a mobile application focused on helping users report emergencies such as domestic violence, sexual assault, or public harassment by sharing real-time location and live video streams with trusted contacts and police. The app offers multiple triggering options, including shake detection and voice recognition, ensuring discreet use in critical moments. Additional features like mental health chatbot support and a “report a crime” function aim to offer holistic safety. The app is now delivered to relevant organisations.

Problems

Traditional emergency systems lack speed, discretion, and user flexibility—especially in cases like domestic violence or assault, where speaking out can escalate danger. Victims often hesitate to report abuse due to fear, stigma, or lack of timely support. Government solutions have focused on policing but overlooked personalized, tech-enabled interventions. During the pandemic, abuse reports increased significantly, exposing systemic gaps in prevention and response. There was a clear need for a solution prioritizing speed, user control, and anonymous access to safety and support services.

Challenges

Designing for user safety meant balancing functionality with confidentiality. A key challenge was ensuring alerts could be sent without notifying the attacker, especially during domestic violence incidents. Preventing false alarms without sacrificing responsiveness was another complex task. Legal considerations around privacy and data protection also had to be met. Building a reliably working system across mobile platforms, with minimal data usage and battery impact, added to the technical complexity. Coordinating with law enforcement to create an actionable response system was critical, but required careful planning.

Our Solutions

Locate Me integrates location tracking, live streaming, and AI-powered chatbot support into one streamlined platform. It enabled silent alerts via shake detection or button triggers. A pop-up confirmation helped avoid accidental alerts, while police received real-time access to the user's location and video feed. To maintain confidentiality, users could limit sharing to law enforcement only. Verified community volunteers nearby could also be alerted using the “ask for help” feature. AI mental health checks identified signs of distress and connected users to professionals. The app focused on quick, discreet action to save lives in real-time.