While driving on long journeys, our eyes often become burdened due to fatigue and sleep. We take a short break, wash our face with water and then freshen up and go on the journey ahead. But some people do not pay attention to it and this mistake becomes a major cause of accident.
In 2017 in Andhra Pradesh, there were two horrific bus accidents after the driver fell asleep while driving. One bus was carrying tourists and the other was a school bus carrying teachers and children. Many people lost their lives in this.
from road accidents restless students find solution
That news, like everyone else, had upset Pradeep Verma, an engineering student in Visakhapatnam. Pradeep, 22, was compelled to wonder why there is no technology to prevent these accidents? At that time he was studying at Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of Engineering, Visakhapatnam.
They The Better India Speaking to TOI said, “After doing a lot of research, I realized that at present there are many techniques for detecting and already aware of external accidents. But nothing was done for the problem of the driver falling asleep while driving.” Rahul with his two friends Rohit K. And started working with Gyan Sai on such a technique, which could prove to be helpful in preventing such incidents.
They wanted to create a system that could monitor both the driver and the road. The three of them pooled some funds to build the device as well as use college facilities. They installed industrial grade cameras in the device, so that the driver as well as the road can be monitored. These were AI powered cameras programmed to monitor the blinking speed of the driver.
Built-in sleep pattern tracing device
Pradeep says, “If the blinking speed slows down, it simply means the driver is about to sleep. In such a situation a loud sound will be emitted from the device to alert the driver. It is also programmed to trace the micro sleep pattern of the driver. Micro sleep pattern, which determines how many seconds a person is sleeping without realization.
This system is fully connected to the Internet. GPS has also been installed in it to track the location. The collected data is uploaded to the cloud and then all this information can be accessed through the app. Apart from this, the app also gives information about whether the driver is driving safely or not. Along with this, it also tells how to improve driving.
Chandrababu Naidu also appreciated
In the year 2018, Pradeep’s device won a gold medal at the International Innovation Fair, South Zone. He was highly appreciated by the then Chief Minister of the state, Chandrababu Naidu. This encouraged the three friends to work more on their innovation and make it a commercial solution.
In 2019 he launched a startup named Kshemin Labs and started work on the device. The trio also joined TreeType’s 18-week program to learn the workings of business management. Pradeep said, “We have been working on the device continuously. It was also tested on a private tourist bus operator. But the result was not as we expected. It was necessary to make some changes to the device.
He adds, “Due to the pandemic, we were not able to work on it for a long time.” However, now all three have started working on the device again and whatever necessary changes were made, they have been completed. The help of an external consultant has also been taken to finalize it. Negotiations are currently underway with the International School and State Transport for testing the device.
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Original article: Roshni Muthukumar
Editing: Archana Dubey
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