GuardnAngel | Devpost

Inspiration

After personally experiencing the tragic effects of the heroin epidemic, we wanted to find a non traditional way to tackle the problem of fentanyl-related overdose deaths in the USA. Rather than tackling the issue by promoting prohibition, we decided a better idea was education, harm reduction, and harm prevention. By taking this approach, we are not condoning drug use but rather giving users a last resort should the worst case scenario occur. We believe in second chances; for people to turn their lives around in hopes that one day they'll seek the help they need as we collectively mourn for those we have already lost.

What it does

GuardnAngel consists of three primary functions.

The main function is a mobile app that connects to a simple arduino interface via BlueTooth that measures vitals such as heart and respiratory rate while an individual is using heroin. When the user's vitals reach a critical point, the app signals an alarm. If the user does not respond to the alarm in 60 seconds, assuming that the user is overdosing and currently unresponsive, emergency services are called (equipped with Narcan) and the location data of the user is sent to the emergency contact listed in the app. Additionally, the user has an option to quickly alert EMS in case they witness someone else overdosing.
The app provides a list of resources for the user should they ever decide to seek help listing rehab and support options, phone numbers, and organizations to reach out to.
The app has a real time feed of heroin overdoses displayed visually as a heat map based on their current location. Currently, we only have data for Pennsylvania.

How we built it

We first built the sensor using an Arduino Uno micro-controller with an HC-05 BT module to serve as the interface between the app and the sensor. The BT module serves as the bridge to write the Serial information from the arduino board to the android application. We used a cheap knock off brand, and because we didn't have a volt-splitter, the module did not work as well as we wanted it to. It still works as a proof of concept.

Next, we built the primary application on Android Studio. Mostly vanilla.

For the heat map, we compiled the data on MatLab but it turned out to be a bit more complicated than we had anticipated. Joe took it a step further and using a standard distribution model to pull meaningful data out of areas that did not have a lot of info. Instead we took the live data, converted it to JSON, and fed it through the Google Maps HeatMap API.

Challenges we ran into

Joe - "I personally ran into some trouble formatting data on MatLab and producing the scripts were a little difficult because I had to teach myself a lot of things. I should also point out that not a lot of data was available so I had to create a technique for pulling meaningful data."

Manny - "Basically formatting the HTML/CSS and making responsive layouts. And to make it not ugly."

Jamie - "My biggest challenge was trying to connect the BT module to my android application. I had just bought the arduino board a couple days ago and have had no prior experience building on arduinos. I eventually found out it was because I was missing a volt-splitter due to the module being a 3.3V logical board while my arduino chip was a 5v logical board. Spent most of my night debugging that nightmare..."

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Joe - "Teaching myself a lot of new things in MatLab in order to get the project done. Coming to a resolution for a rather large project because I was a little intimidated coming to this place."

Manny - "Being more comfortable with web design and the feeling of accomplishment when finally finishing a project."

Jamie - "Honestly, seeing my idea come to fruition. This idea means a lot to me, and has personally impacted me and many people I know. I'm really proud that we were able to complete what we had set out to do, barring some hiccups, and it's incredible to witness and experience that process with people I have never met until now."

What we learned

Joe - "As far as technical skills, I taught myself how to use MatLab and heat mapping toolkits and the mapping toolbox. Later I learned how to quickly format data on excel. As for the heroin epidemic, I learned a lot about the statistics and I didn't realize how significant the issue was."

Manny - "I learned just how big of an issue the heroin epidemic is."

Jamie - "I learned that Android is a nightmare to program on without the use of extensive libraries and frameworks that make the design an easier process. Among other things, I learned what it's like to build and finish a project with a solid team for 24 hours straight. #nosleep"

What's next for GuardnAngel

There's a lot of improvement for us. We want to branch out in data mining and extraction by using machine learning to pull and predict data from all over.

As for the hardware, we want to incorporate more sensors, while remaining unobtrusive for the user.

Overall, we want to continue the fight against the heroin epidemic and help prevent needless overdose deaths and potentially grant strangers a second chance at life.