with an app on your phone

A woman who survived a horrific knife attack has co-created a gadget to protect victims in similar situations - a ring that conceals a panic button.

Ekaterina Romanovskaya, 41, from Moscow, Russia, joined a US team of inventors to develop the Nimb - a minimalist piece of wearable tech which, when the button on it is pressed, issues an alert that notifies family, friends, and emergency services.

The $149 (£113) gadget, which recently surpassed its goal on Kickstarter, tracks the wearer's location in real-time so a response team can get to them faster.

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Ekaterina Romanovskaya, 41, from Moscow, Russia, left, joined a US team of inventors to develop the Nimb, right, after she survived a horrific random knife attack 16 years ago

The Nimb is a $149 (£113) technological ring with inbuilt panic button, which tracks the wearer's location in real-time so friends or emergency services can reach them

Upon pressing the panic button for three seconds, the Nimb vibrates to reassure the wearer that the alert has gone out and help is on its way.

It syncs with the accompanying app, which stores contact information from your chosen 'safety circle' of emergency contacts.

Ekaterina - who was stabbed nine times by a man she refused to talk to on the street 16 years ago, and was rescued by her neighbour - hopes the ring will go further than helping potential crime victims.

The system can be used by parents to track their children - assuming both parties are wearing a ring - as well as by seniors and people with health problems.

The futuristic device, which is water resistant and has a battery life of two weeks, also offers an audio recording function that automatically collects evidence from the smartphone once the panic button has been pressed.

In an Instagram post about her ordeal earlier this year, Ekaterina wrote: 'Sixteen years ago, in broad daylight on a busy street, an inconspicuous young man tried to strike up a conversation with me.

Upon pressing the panic button for three seconds, the Nimb vibrates to reassure the wearer that the alert (left) has gone out and help is on its way

It syncs with the accompanying app, which stores contact information (pictured) from your chosen 'safety circle' of emergency contacts

'I was proud and in a hurry, so the conversation didn't work out so well for him. He turned out to be quite resourceful, so the second time around he didn’t waste any time on questions and pulled out a knife.

'He slit my throat, cut open my stomach, and wanted to conclude this process of getting to know me by putting the blade through my heart. But each time he tried, my ribs and other bones got in the way.'

She goes on to say that the likelihood of her surviving was 'pretty low', but she managed to curb the bleeding and seek help.

Ekaterina - who was stabbed nine times by a man she refused to talk to on the street - hopes the ring will go further than helping potential crime victims

The system can be used by parents to track their children, left, assuming both parties are wearing a ring; as well as by joggers, right, seniors and people with health problems

'I wouldn’t be writing this today if the neighbour hadn’t answered my cries for help,' she explains.

HOW TO USE THE NIMB - When in trouble, press the discreet panic button on the inside of the ring and hold it down for three seconds. - This will trigger an emergency alert, sending a message to your selected 'safety circle' with your real-time location details. - The ring will vibrate once the alert has been sent to confirm that your emergency contacts have been notified and help is on the way. Advertisement

'Long story short, 40 minutes later I was at the hospital in a state of hemorrhagic shock with nine knife wounds on my body.'

Surprisingly, she says she never thinks about this experience as a 'bad' one.

'When I got up from bed several weeks after the attack, I felt for the first time in my life that I could stand on my own two feet,' she explains. 'I stopped being a crime victim and became a crime survivor.'

Soon afterwards, she got involved with the Nimb.