CrashAlerts App: Protecting Individuals From

Direct Collisions During Mobile Interaction

Farhan Azam Memon
Department Of Computer Science
Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto
Insititute Of Science and Technology
Hyderabad
Email: farhanmemo@gmail.com

Abstract the user by beeping loudly along with the “RED

We developed a CrashAlerts app through which
individuals can receive crash alerts on the go if they
are about to collide into something that could be
harmful for them. We observed the environment
randomly and then took survey to find out what
people think about eyes busy interaction with the
mobile phone device while walking on the roads or
anywhere. Then we designed and implemented the
application with various resources. The outcome was
better that people loved the concept when they were
asked to perform the task and participate in the
experiment. It will help people to walk and interact
with the device concurrently in a better and safer
way that there is minimized chance of collision that
may cause in dangerous accident suddenly. This
concept can be taken further on in future with better
findings as the technology is moving fast and will be
improving with time.
1. Introduction
We have seen how individuals are busy these days
with mobile interaction while walking on roads and
the corridors of their universities that they even do
not see what is coming. Their eyes busy interaction
can sometimes be really dangerous for them as they
can collide with objects and collapse. In an study,
researchers found out that their shall be a
mechanism that interacts with the individuals on
their mobile screen with a sounding beep to alert
them of collisions with any objects in their way or
even humans that are walking along or crossing by,
and even the vehicles on the roads.
We introduce you an application that is connected to
a device that processes the images as fast as possibly
can and keep track of any objects that comes in
individual’s way and if there is any detected, it alerts
ALERT” on individual’s mobile screen so that they
human shall stop walking immediately or head-up to
see what is it and somehow get rid of colliding with
that object.
2. Literature Review
2.1 Related Work
“As the technology is moving fast ahead, interaction
with the mobile phone devices and the other type of
devices has been increased and is being used during
the in-process of other tasks. This needs to take
serious attention towards the dangers that
individuals might face.” [1]
“Using mobile phone devices while walking and
keeping eyes-busy interaction with the devices is a
leading danger that is life threatening for sure. It
requires attention to make it safer as possible for the
individuals who are very much in interaction with
the devices while even walking on the roads.
CrashAlerts might help them walk with more safety
and precautions must be taken”[2]
“Pedestrian safety must be taken into consideration
as anything that distracts pedestrian concentration
towards the walking is been a cause of fatal and
grave accidents. So, Pedestrian Distraction Safety
Framework shall be taken into implementation to
help.[3]
“Texting and walking is the subject to hundreds of
deaths every year. It is recommended by the
National Safety Council to hold your device up
higher if it is very much important to attend the call
or read the incoming texts, to see if there is any
danger towards you. In fact, use text-reading and
voice recognition software so that you can speak on
the go but your eyes shall be on the road to avoid
any danger and walk safely.”[4]
“It is much important to know what measures shall
be taken to avoid direct collisions with the objects
and have much safer life to live even if it is
important to text and walk at the same time. But
avoiding it is the best and final way you can possibly
be recommended to.”[5]
“OpenCV is the best Open Source Computer Vision
Library that is used for image processing and has
been created with many image processing
algorithms to help identify the objects through the
camera and visualize them to identify them,”[6]
2.2 Contribution
By taking the related work into consideration, we
have found out how it can help to enhance the
usability and safety for the people who are much
more interacted with their mobile phones. So, we
made observations, researched on it and found out
that the best possible way to accomplish it and make
the environment safer for the pedestrians. So, we
implemented the CrashAlerts App concept to protect
individuals from direct collisions.
3. Methodology
3.1 Observations
So, we took observations through multiple sources.
First, we observed some young-aged people (e.g
students) randomly in the university corridors and
on the streets that keep an eyes-busy interaction with
the smartphone and walking was bringing up the
close-calls with the objects and were alerting
themselves through natural human alertness like if
they’re about to crash. Some of them we saw even
collided and some of them stopped immediately
before colliding into each other (as their eye sight
gave natural alertness). But it was seemingly very
dangerous for the individuals out there. Then we
also took a survey from a number of people about if
they feel it is dangerous to use smartphone while
walking and most of them were highly concerned
about it (more than 70%). They even admitted that
they have collided to something while using the
smartphone and walking concurrently that they lose
their focus. We then coming up with an idea, also
asked them if it is helpful to have an application
mechanism on their devices that alerts them right on
time if they’re about to crash. 100% of people
agreed that it is helpful to have such an mechanism
in order to protect them from colliding.
3.2 Design
Based on the observations and some previous
research, we created the Alerts Application that will
by default be running in the background of the
Android Mobile Phone of the individual that will
automatically adjust the Rotating Camera itself
towards the forward direction in which the
individual is walking (generally it shall get set to 90
Degrees in forward direction). Additionally, there
will be an option of Manually adjusting the camera
towards the forward direction. And the camera shall
be set in such a way that it can capture the objects
from the ground to the top. The Default Camera is
kept in working as well. Every second, images will
be processing towards the Image Processing App
through the Bluetooth connectivity and recognizing
the objects and obstacles in the way while the person
walks. If something comes in the way that the user
hasn’t noticed for 5 meters. Then the beeping sound
will start buzzing on the device. Then if the object is
just 2 meters far, then the “ALERT: STOP
IMMEDIATELY AND WATCH AHEAD” message
will appear on the user’s screen with loud beeping
sound that the person couldn’t resist. Then if the
person has stopped, the beep will stop buzzing and
the message will automatically disappear, or if
doesn’t in some cases, the user can manually close
the message. The person could configure other
settings too, such as, setting beeping volume, enable/
disable the vibration, enable/disable blinking of
screen, setting range of early alerts (up to 15
meters). The app will be having a simple User
Interface that shall not be difficult to configure and
use for individuals of any age. We tried to design it
in such a way to avoid any complexities that put
pressure on the processors or at the user-end in terms
of understanding. At the other hand, the image
processing app will be made easier to configure as
well. A user can set fps (frames per second) from
low quality to best quality, depending on the
processor of the device that the device shall not lag
or hang during the use in order to avoid
inconvenience. Otherwise, the app is all made
simple for users to understand, configure and use.
3.3 Implementation
We created an mobile application that recognizes the
nearby objects that comes in the way of direction in
which the individual is walking. We developed it in
C# Programming Language that for recognizing
the objects and alerts the user for any obstacles
coming in its way. The application will run on
devices with Android version greater than 5.0.
And then there shall be another mobile application
that does image processing concurrently and
possibly it can be done by using OpenCV (but
OpenCV is used on both applications; the main and
the one for background image processing). Then
there shall be a Movable Camera (a camera that
rotates straight in direction of 90 Degrees to the
front of capturing walking direction of the
individual) attached to the individual’s mobile phone
along with the Default Camera of the device, but
the image processing work is done on a different
device because the main app with Alerts and the
other with Image Processing will put a lot of
pressure on the device’s processors. So, we can use a
Smart Watch as well and make its connectivity
with the device through the Bluetooth so that the
Alerts App accessing the camera send images (per
frame) to the Image Processing App installed on the
Smart Watch which an individual must wear or keep
close to the mobile device.
3.4 Task
So in order to carry out the final experiment to check
how beneficial and helpful this is going to be for the
individuals. We first took a survey from students
who are very much interacted with the mobile
phones, in which we defined if having an application
as such is helpful with some extra equipment such as
movable camera and smartwatch that is used that
they are fine with. Then we also asked some
students in the university to walk in the corridors
while consistently using their smartphones for any
purpose such as playing a game on the go, texting
someone, reading something etc. It was up to them
and that they shall act naturally by walking in the
corridors in random directions to each other. There
were 8 participants in total who wore the
smartwatch, connected movable camera to their
devices and started to walk. They even configured
both the applications in both the devices
accordingly.
4. Results
So the experiment was for few minutes in which the
individuals spoke about how it helped them to sense
if they’re about to dodge into each other. Crash
Alerts individuals were able to perform simpler
corrective actions (e.g dodging and slowing down)
to avoid any possible collisions, which provided
individuals additional time and space for other more
complex corrections (e.g heads-up and full stops)
and though, it leads to safer walking than before.
Individuals discussed about there shall be alerts
based on the type, position, direction and speed of
the object and then calculate the danger level of the
collision accordingly. Then display the alert on the
screen to see whether it is very dangerous whether if
the collision happens. Some of the individuals were
unable to sense if people are going into their
direction along or coming towards them from the
opposite direction. Some of them were unable to
sense if the object was moving or static at one place.
Individuals set their cameras manually, didn’t relied
on automatic system and it worked as if it is in the
forward position then it coves almost the whole
forward visualization that it was beeping right on
time.
4.1 Future Workings
The CrashAlerts concept can even further go ahead
as technology is moving fast and we can even be
able to implement Artificial Intelligence to
accomplish the task of alerting the individual if
he/she is about to collide to something. There is a lot
of room for this research to go further on in future
with even the sensors technology that might reduce
the need of extra equipment needed in order to make
it work successfully.
5. Conclusion
So we successfully created a Crash Alerts App with
better concept that helped reduce the heavy carriage
of equipment as an requirement for image
processing and capturing the direction. It helped the
individual to be alert before crashing into the objects
ahead while his/her eyes are busy with the
interaction to their mobile devices. This concept has
been beneficial for the young generation as we
figured out by doing the observation and then
choosing the student level individuals for the task to
perform and get the feedback about if it works. Even Practical Pedestrian Distraction Detection
we are definitely aware that it requires lot of further Framework using Wearables
improvements in future but has been successful till
4. This Causes 11,000 Injuries a Year—and You’re
now.
Probably Doing it Every Day
https://www.rd.com/culture/texting-and-walking-
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