The Clochard Alert: A Student-Developed Alarm System for Those Who Are Homeless

While a life on the street is a life full of challenges in any event, those experiencing homelessness face further difficulties through theft and robbery of their own few possessions. To this end, students from Ruhr University Bochum under the guidance of a project supervisor and in cooperation with the IEEE Germany Section, a German industry partner and a local voluntary association created an alarm system specifically designed for the needs of those without shelter.In this contribution, the alarm system, the Clochard Alert, is presented. The paper will cover the full development process of the alert, functioning as a case study for future undertakings of similar objective and scale. Starting with the student project the idea and first version of the device originated from, the paper will examine the in-field test phase and industry cooperation that further enabled the alarm’s evolution, briefly describe the financing plan the industry cooperation resulted in, and conclude with lessons learned during the venture.