'Got My Stuff' Helps the Average Person Remember Everything
Advancements in technology allow the average person to take advantage of systems that were at one time reserved for the military or large corporations.
Car manufacturers have used RFID tags to keep track of where their vehicles are located on the assembly line for years. The tags send a signal to a tracking device and indicate the location of whatever item it is attached to. And now developers at AT&T are in the process of bringing this tracking technology to the average customer's car, allowing them to keep tabs on their most important possessions with "Got My Stuff."
AT&T labs researcher Don Henderson came up with the concept for "Got My Stuff" after leaving his driver's license at a local pharmacy. He ended up driving around for days after finally noticing that his license was missing. Once he realized this, he retraced his steps back to the drug store and recovered it.
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"I had a life problem that prompted me to think about 'Got My Stuff,' that prompted me to think about using this technology and help me remember things," Henderson told The Christian Post. "We all have the same problems; we forget things from time to time."
After this experience, Henderson decided that there should be a service that would allow people to tag their important items and be reminded when they have left something behind.
"When you forget something and you're in your car and it's something like your license or your wallet it could be a big problem," he added. "It's a visceral thing; everyone sort of feels the same way about [losing possessions]. This [tracking technology] should be real; I'd like to have something like this."
Henderson then created and demonstrated a prototype of "Got My Stuff" that utilizes RFID chips to the Emerging Devices Organization. They ended up loving the product and presentation, so they submitted the project to be funded under The Innovation Pipeline Fast Track.
By installing this type of a tracking system inside of automobiles, the average person will be able to track any items they might have left behind as long as an RFID tag is attached to it.
Henderson told CP that prototypes of "Got My Stuff" will be installed in people's cars for a trial run in the near future.
"We're putting together ten of these 'Got My Stuff' units for people to install in their cars and ride around with and sort of live with for a couple weeks, and report back to us and tell us what they like and what they don't like," said Henderson. "That's the next step in the process, and beyond there we hope we find interest inside AT&T for doing something more with that."
People re-entering their cars will know if they forgot something by using this prototype. The early version of "Got My Stuff" tracks items within a short distance of an automobile's interior. But the range of tracking in a consumer ready version of the system will be determined once the trials are complete, according to Henderson.
He hopes to eventually see a time where technology for tracking possessions is a common feature in cars.
"In the future these [Got My Stuff units] might be build into a vehicle," said Henderson.
"Got My Stuff" is also "destination aware," meaning that frequent stops can be programmed into it. So for example; if someone arrives at a soccer practice the system can remember what items they normally use and inform the user if anything is missing.
"The system will know using GPS where it is all the time, and it also remembers where it last saw an item, so using those two things you can imagine a bunch of different scenarios," said Henderson, explaining how this "destination awareness" can benefit the user.
And even though "Got My Stuff" is only its beginning phases, the technology it employs seems to solve a common problem, and is something that could benefit people of all ages.
