The Anti-sleep band project – an “energy-saving driver’s safety band” – won a special prize from the Minister of Investment and Development and the Technical Innovation and Inventions Competition in Poland. Its authors, however, are collecting money for the development of the headband, because they have no money to buy parts to build a second prototype.
The authors of the project are 18-year-old students of the third grade of Mechatronic Technical School No. 1 in Warsaw. After one of them was involved in an accident caused by a driver who fell asleep at the wheel, they decided to focus on this quite serious problem. It is estimated that in Poland every year up to 600 accidents are caused by drivers who fall asleep while driving.
Carefully dosed information
The Anti-sleep band is worn like a watch and controls the life functions of the driver, checking whether he is tired. It adapts to the user, so for some time, the driver has to wear it so that it can “learn” what is his typical pressure or pulse. When it recognizes that the driver is tired and falls asleep, it is supposed to vibrate and, in case of lack of reaction, to emit sound signals – this is how the students describe its operation.
They don’t want to reveal more because they’re trying to patent their idea. And they are still developing it.
A lot of obstacles
The work started quite strongly in December last year and after taking part in several national competitions we created the first prototype of the Anti-Sleep Band. (…) Currently we are working on next, much better and more user-friendly versions. But unfortunately, there are many obstacles on our way,” wrote young inventors Kamil Kośnik, Kacper Orłowski and Jakub Twardowski on Zrzutka.pl, a fund-raising portal.
It is about costs.
Electronic components, advanced microcontrollers, displays, modules, PCBs and many other parts that we usually import from the USA and China (there are no such components in Poland, or their quality is poor),” they explained.
Young inventors are now assembling the second prototype.
Unfortunately, they lack time and funds. This is blocking them from improving their work on the project. They would be very willing to cooperate with companies, investors, etc. in order to be able to use the full potential of this idea,” explains Magdalena Polak, deputy director of their school, quoted by warszawa.naszemiasto.pl.
So far, a little more than a quarter of the required sum has been collected. However, there are still a few days left for the students to achieve their dream goal.
Photo: Zrzutka.pl screenshot