DIGITAL LIFE

Mobile phone can know when the user is drunk

Smartphones may be able to know when a user is drunk in the near future just based on the way people walk. The idea was taken from an experiment by the American Brian Suffoletto, from Stanford University, in the United States.
Suffoletto wanted to understand how he could “take advantage” over the accelerometers on the devices and use them to detect changes in the walking patterns of people who have already ingested a high dose of alcohol.
For this, tests were carried out with 22 volunteers and each one had 1 hour to drink vodka. At the end of the period, the alcohol concentration in individuals on breathalyzer tests was 0.2%. Each volunteer also had a smartphone strapped to their backs and had to walk in a straight line - ten steps on the way, another ten on the way back.
About 90% of the time, the cell phone was able to sense that something unusual was happening to people in whom the alcohol concentration exceeded the 0.08% limit allowed for driving in the United States.
For Suffoletto and the group of researchers who participated in the study, the discovery that smartphones can indeed detect the use of alcohol is important for a tool capable of notifying the user when he is drunk and unable to be developed in order to avoid accidents. “In five years, I would like to imagine a world where people go out with friends, drink risky doses and receive an alert at the first sign of damage, with strategies for them to stop drinking and to protect themselves from high risk events, such as driving, violent situations and unprotected sexual encounters, ”he said.
Suffoletto said that the next step now is to carry out the same tests, but while the volunteer holds the cell phone in his hands or pocket - not least because it is a little impossible for a drunk person to be able to tie the cell phone on his back alone.

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