Inspiration
13% of all truck accidents occur as a result of sleep deprivation. 66% of all truck drivers fall asleep at the wheel, and 13% have stated they have fallen asleep at the wheel. This is not only detrimental to human lives, but also damages supply chains, which are currently very important in the post-pandemic economy.
What it does
A pulse sensor detects a driver's heart beat in bpm, and send that information to a server, which then directs it to a mobile application (cross-platform with React Native). The mobile application processes the heart rate, counting the driver's average heart rate and detecting significant changes that indicate the driver is falling asleep or other potential dangers. The app will then notify the driver with bright text and an alarm.
How we built it
The heart sensor comes from a set of sensors (37 in 1 kit) which attaches to an Arduino Uno. The heart beat is measured up to 8 bits of accuracy, and each bit is individually sent to a Raspberry Pi. The Raspberry Pi then sends that information out with an API to a React Native app, which first calibrates to determine the user's average heart rate, and then measures significant deviations which may indicate danger.
Challenges we ran into
We tried to originally use the Raspberry Pi directly to listen to the user's heart rate, but it turned out that the Raspberry Pi did not support analog signal, and so we had to use an Arduino, which supports analog signal, then turn it into digital signal, and send the signal in 8 bits to the Raspberry Pi. We spent a majority of time trying to connect the Arduino with the Raspberry Pi. It took 6 hours to figure out that the two microcontrollers were connected to two different power sources, and that caused the signal to become noisy.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
Figuring out everything with the Arduino and the Raspberry Pi, which was completely new to us, and also figuring out React Native, which we all also did not know very well, especially state management.
What we learned
Electrical engineering is hard, and we know now that electricity is very fickle. Also, React Native is somewhat difficult to work with, but in some cases does provide a nice way to organize UI.
What's next for DriveSafer
We want to analyze steering patterns, and provide better analysis of the user's heart rate. We would also like to send this information to employers and insurance agencies.
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