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Felix Hegg, Bruno Eigenmann, Gian Dogwiler (from left) in front of the Baden Cantonal School. photo: Henry Muchenberger
High school students develop an app that warns drivers about microsleep, but Apple blocks it
Three Aargau Kantian students want to save lives with their app: while Google allows the Android version in the app store, Apple refuses to accept it.
Anyone thinking about the causes of car accidents has in mind driving under the influence of alcohol, speeding or risky overtaking maneuvers. However, it is much more common: fatigue. Microsleep, that is, falling asleep spontaneously and for a short time, is responsible for one in four fatal accidents.
The application “Wake” it should help prevent these accidents. It wakes up the driver with an alarm sound as soon as he falls asleep, and was developed by three Kanti students from Baden. Gian Dogwiler from Bergdietikon, Bruno Eigenmann from Baden and Felix Hegg from Remetschwil want to save lives with their app.
Mortal danger
The theme of micro-sleep occupies the three 18-year-olds who attend the Baden Cantonal School together. Eigenmann’s grandfather survived an accident almost unscathed due to microsleep, but the car: total loss. And Hegg’s mother also repeatedly struggles with fatigue at the wheel, fortunately so far without accidents. You think you can fight it.
But the only thing that really helps is sleep, ”says Hegg. However, this is not always possible immediately. Dogwiler recalls a trip to Ticino: suddenly in the Gotthard tunnel, 60 kilometers in a straight line at constant speed and on a monotonous route, the brain switches to relaxation mode. Dogwiler says:
Even long-distance drivers and commuters often don’t get a chance to take a spontaneous nap.
The application is designed precisely for these situations: long trips, often at night.
How does it work?
- The smartphone is attached to a mount in the car, either in the vent or on the windshield, so that the front camera can capture the driver’s eyes as much as possible during the trip.
- As soon as the eyelids are closed, the alarm sounds. This is also active in non-dangerous situations: when looking down, for example.
“That can be annoying when parking, as you often look around you. That is why we have incorporated the function that you can deactivate the alarm from Tempo 30 ”, says Eigenmann.
How did you come up with that?
“Awaker” was originally just a school project, but it quickly turned into a plan to actually create a marketable application. Felix Hegg came up with the idea a year and a half ago on a research expedition to California’s Silicon Valley. Dogwiler and Eigenmann were carried away by the “start-up lifestyle” that Hegg brought to Switzerland. They are also fascinated by innovative technical solutions. All three name Tesla founder Elon Musk as a role model, then they want to start new companies, study at ETH, and dream of space technology.
But first of all: save lives. “The app only has to beep at the right time to prevent the driver from falling asleep and a fatal accident can be avoided,” say Dogwiler and his colleagues, beaming.
This humanism motivated the students, even as they faced unsolved problems for months. Triggering an alarm by closing your eyes sounds easy at first. However, an enormous amount of computing power is required for the application to work.
Hegg trained an artificial neural network, a kind of digital brain, with half a million data records. The system learned to recognize when the eyes are closed, even in difficult conditions, such as behind glasses and at night. “None of us would have thought it would be that difficult,” says Eigenmann. First he had to learn to program from scratch.
Why is Apple blocking?
After the successful project, they continue to work at “Awaker” and found the Interacode company. The goal: to make the application ready for the market. It has been available on the Google Play Store since June. and has more than 100 downloads.
However, so far, it is missing from the Apple Store – Apple doesn’t want to publish the app. It is said that it can encourage its users to engage in dangerous activities. There is danger?
Hegg likens it to a seat belt, which could also lead to riskier driving:
“In a perfect world, such an application would not be necessary. But microsleep wouldn’t be the number one cause of fatal car accidents if people weren’t tired of driving. We offer additional security with the app, but we also point out several times that you shouldn’t drive tired. “
The publication could still drag on, the Awaker guys also have to struggle with Apple’s “opaque conditions”. But then the marketing should really start. To do this, they are currently creating a business plan as part of their graduation thesis.
Advertising would increase the number of downloads and make the product more visible. The download is free, everyone should be able to try the app for free. Regular use should cost two to three francs a month.
sources
(bzbasel.ch)
