Wearable Early Warning Fatigue Detector for Drivers
If it is the first of the year, it’s time for the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas—the big technology show that displaced COMDEX many years ago.
Not much that happens there is directly relevant to manufacturing. Many crossover ideas and other useful products do pop up.
Here is the first press release that has come my way (no, I won’t be attending). As someone who has driven hundreds of thousands of miles, many at night, I find this product very useful.
Wearable early warning system
Impecca, announced The Alert Band, a wearable early warning Bluetooth fatigue detector band that attaches to the driver’s forehead to sense fatigue and help prevent accidents. The Alert Band monitors and analyzes brainwaves, sending real-time notifications and alarms to the driver’s smartphone, family and friends, as well as social networks, 3-5 minutes before the driver begins to doze off and fall asleep. The notification and alarm are intended to wake him/her up and are designed to save lives.
The Alert Band uses Bluetooth 4.0 technology to connect to the driver’s iOS or Android smartphone, transferring raw data collected by The Alert Band’s forehead sensors and transmitting the data to its app on the smartphone. The Alert Band features a smartphone App that uses a numbering system, from 0 to 100 to indicate the user’s fatigue level, sending out an alert when the driver’s fatigue level is too high.
According to The National Highway Safety Administration, annually in the U.S., driver fatigue contributes to 100,000 accidents, 1,550 deaths, 71,000 injuries and $1.25 Billion in financial losses.
The Alert Band developer experienced these statistics first hand. He created The Alert Band after a friend was severely injured in a car accident when the driver who hit him fell asleep behind the wheel. He decided to create a device that alerts drivers in advance when they’re experiencing fatigue. It also alerts the driver’s family or friends to call or talk to him/her to help stay awake.
The device was created by conducting years of testing with hundreds of participants using a simulator for an over 90% accuracy rate. Through EEG brain scanning testing, Impecca saw that the area in charge of fatigue is located in the forehead, so they created a user-friendly thin forehead device that, unlike most unwieldy EEG units, easily attaches to the forehead and is easy to use and comfortable to wear for long periods.
The Alert Band will be available May 2015 through major retailers, Impecca.com, and online, priced at $249.99.
