Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are using wearable sensor technology to develop an automatic alert system to help people quit smoking.
Researchers at Case Western Reserve University are using wearable sensor technology to develop an automatic alert system to help people quit smoking.
The smart-phone app, initially limited to android-based operating systems, automatically texts 20- to 120-second video messages to smokers when sensors detect specific arm and body motions associated with smoking.
There is no shortage of products or programs—from nicotine gum to hypnosis—to help people stop smoking. More recently, wearable technology has gained popularity in the fight against addiction.
But the mobile alert system Case Western Reserve researchers are testing may be the first that combines:
- an existing online platform with mindfulness training and a personalized plan for quitting;
- two armband sensors to detect smoking motions, a technology that demonstrated more than 98-percent accuracy in differentiating “lighting up” from other similar motions. (That’s compares to 72-percent accuracy in systems using a single armband);
- and a personalized text-messaging service that reminds the user of either their own plan to quit, or sends video messages that stress the health and financial benefits of quitting.
Read more at Case Western Reserve University
Image: This is Ming-Chun Huang. (Credit: CWRU)
