Photo by Brian Kostiuk
Background
Smoking remains the leading cause of premature death in the UK and is responsible for half of the health gap between the poorest and most affluent communities.
Smoking not only results in serious health risks for smokers but also for non-smokers who are nearby. This is especially a problem on the grounds of hospitals where some patients have serious conditions that are made worse by inhaling cigarette smoke.
The Problem
At Liverpool’s Alder Hey children’s hospital people smoke on hospital grounds despite the hospital staff’s best efforts to stop them.
This is a serious problem as second hand smoke is very dangerous for children, and can cause numerous health problems such as more frequent and severe asthma attacks, respiratory infections, ear infections and even death in young infants.
Read more about the dangers of second hand smoke here
The Solution
Our srudents have worked with Alder Hey's innovation hub to develop a device that would detect lit cigarettes and then play loud messages about the dangers of smoking and second hand smoke.
This would hopefully educate the smokers and motivate them to stop, or at least annoy them enough to move on!
The Result
Students used an infrared camera and computer code to successfully identify when a cigarette was lit, the device then played pre-recorded anti-smoking messages when it detected a lit cigarette.
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