The Ploota is remarkable for a lot of reasons. The Sensor Controlled Swimming Safety Device sits around your neck, and will trigger when it comes in contact with water, but even comes with a manual trigger. Sitting around your neck, the Ploota is compact, innovative, reusable, and like I mentioned earlier, remarkable. Here’s a bunch of reasons why. A. Unlike most life-jackets that keep you afloat all the time, the Ploota can be used underwater or in the water too. It means you can go swimming, snorkeling or deep sea diving with it on and trigger it only when you need to be brought to the surface. In that manner, the Ploota can be worn by more people and therefore it can save more lives. B. Probably 1/50th the size of a regular foam-based life jacket, the Ploota is compact, allowing you to carry/store 50 times more life-jackets with you in the same space, hence saving more lives in the event of a disaster. C. Its tiny form factor (it weighs only 280gms) allows you to do more without being weighed down by a bulky chest-strapped jacket. Designed to look sleeker and honestly, cooler, the Ploota is something more people will want to wear.

The Ploota sits relatively snugly around the neck. When it inflates, thanks to the refillable-CO2 cartridges in the front, two bags on the side (above the shoulder) inflate immediately, bringing you to the surface of the water. The Ploota is reusable, as the bags can easily be rolled back into their enclosure and the CO2 cartridges replaced. Given that as many as 372,000 people drown every year, the Ploota’s ability to be used in any and every scenario and its small size can literally ensure MANY more lives are saved.

Designers: Rainer Fakesch, T. Storti & C. Rummel (Ploota)