Bow Tie Kindly Suggests That You Back Off

personalSpaceBowtie

Everyone’s had their “personal space bubble” burst. You just wanted a friendly conversation, but now some overzealous blockhead is standing on your shoes and breathing in your face, making you guess what he had for lunch. Fortunately, [Grissini] has created this sylish bowtie solution. Stand too close (within 19 inches) and the LEDs come to life, flashing a warning that indicates a personal space violation. [Grissini’s] tie is 3D printed to accommodate most of the electronics, which snugly snap into place. The rest of the wiring appears to run through the neck strap and connect up to a battery pack hidden elsewhere. You can check out a brief description and demonstration in a video after the break.

We’ve seen this hack for the ladies: [Jeri’s] dress performs a similar function. We’re unsure, however, if these LEDs can deter your average socially-awkward space invader. What we’d really like to see is someone take these hacks to their logical conclusion and make a wearable out of the non-lethal dazzler clone…hopefully the victim would back up a step or two before they spewed.

If you’re lonely and want to encourage people to come closer, maybe this LED bow tie will help. Or, who knows, maybe it’s yet another way to scare people off.

18 thoughts on “Bow Tie Kindly Suggests That You Back Off

  1. I have been enjoying the huge increase in post quality since the site changed hands, but this post worries me… a lot. Please don’t tell me that the site’s previous owners are back. A day or two of silence would be much preferred to so-called hacks that are both useless and uninteresting. What’s next? A sensor that turns the lights on when someone enters a room? A breathless description of how someone installed GNU Radio on their Linux box and listened to a baby monitor? Sheesh.

    1. Personally, I chose this post to make the suggestion about the dazzler. You also have to keep in mind that there are readers at different skill levels. I would expect someone just starting out to find this more accessible than other posts.

      1. Don’t mind him, he’s probably one of those aggressive conversationalists that invade people’s personal space and doesn’t like this because now dudes have a way to say back off without saying back off.

        Having encountered the type in the past, I’m dubious as to the effectiveness of this device. I mean seriously, if stepping back from such an individual only results in the individual stepping forward, I don’t think red lights are going to do any good. In truth, it may have the opposite affect in which the fool gets closer just to make the lights go on. On the other hand, gals may get closer just so they can say they turned you on.

        1. I’ve had a few ‘close talkers’ in the past that just didn’t get the idea of personal space. Unfortunately, at least one of them was a naturalist who didn’t believe in deodorant, either.

          I’d wear this if it came with some way to taze the offender. :-)

  2. Oh man…. I would definitely stand on the edge of the trigger distance and control the lights while I beatbox some bad techno… unce unce unce unce…deedelitdoo deedelitdoo… “THE SYSTEM IS DOWN’ “THE SYSTEM IS DOWN”

  3. $50 dollars for the microcontroller and ‘ultrasonic’ distance piece? This tie all together is close to $70…why not use a bowtie from goodwill, a simple $5 IC and a $15 IR range finder?

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