EAST BRUNSWICK – Samantha Lau, Rachael Lau and Kayla Leung of East Brunswick won the 2016 Congressional App Challenge for the 12th District of New Jersey.
Representing Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer, Middlesex, Somerset), the girls created the SaveBB app because in the U.S. alone, more than 20,000 infants die each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control, with accidental suffocation listed as the leading cause.
To address the alarming statistics, the group created a mobile app that monitors an infant’s movements and notifies the parents or guardian if the baby is in a dangerous sleeping position, according to their statement on the challenge website.
They used an Arduino mini-wifi board connected to an accelerometer that registers in Microsoft Cloud and then sends a text message to the adult’s phone, according to a demonstration provided in their video submission. As soon as the baby flips onto his or her stomach, the text sends a notification of the baby’s position, heart rate, body temperature, the room temperature and video, the girls explained in the video.
For their updated 2.0 version, the group plans to have improved health statistics of the baby, emergency contact information and a more sophisticated design, they said.
To view their video, visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyzd52SpoHY&feature=youtu.be.