THREE STUDENTS from St Gerald’s College, Castlebar, Co Mayo, have developed a phone app that literally turns your mobile into a lifesaver: it detects when a person with an underlying illness collapses, and then contacts emergency services and tells passersby how they can help.
Fifth-years Paul McDonagh, Luke Benson and Donnchadh Barry have spent the last 18 months developing, testing, refining and improving their iCollapse app. It uses the standard accelerometer found in the phone to detect whether a person with, say, diabetes, epilepsy or who is frail, has fallen.
They developed experimental methods and built up a supply of data about different kinds of collapses. They then modelled the typical fall for each of these conditions so the single app can be used for any of them. If it detects a collapse, the phone begins to emit a warning signal and asks anyone nearby to provide immediate help. This might involve putting the person into the recovery position, with the phone displaying on-screen what the passerby should do.
The students received support from software company SAP and videos of how their app works can be viewed at teamsapireland.com
James Eggers (17), a fifth-year from St Michael’s College, Dublin, also developed an app, one that can provide real-time information about traffic on roads anywhere in the world. Within Ireland it takes live traffic camera data and combines this with information from Twitter. This involves scanning for key words that either define a location such as a street or place name, and other key words that suggest a traffic problem.
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