Sensorsafe by Cybex
A simple reminder can save a life
1 year, 4 000+ hours
01 Home
Concentrating on increasingly bad traffic with your child in the back seat – that is nothing but stressful. Now, you can let a simple tool and our app ensure the safety of your child.
Client:
Cybex - Goodbaby
System:
iOS & Android
Year:
2018–2019
Difficulty:
4 000+ hours
02 Assignment
The client’s assignment was clear
To develop an Android-/iOS-native mobile app
Develop an app to show parents information collected by a smart clip attached to the safety belt on a car seat and by a service device connected to a port in the car.
In addition to providing the data about its status (on/off), the clip monitors the temperature around the child to prevent them from getting overheated or hypothermic. All this based on where the parent is and whether the car is moving or stopped.
Evaluating all the information from all the clips in the car needed to be done by the app, which would then decide which notification to display and when. In addition to obvious situations, such as unbuckling the safety belt during the ride, much more sophisticated scenarios needed to be handled as well. Theoretically, relatives could be notified via text message when the child remains in the car on its own, and the message could include the location and surrounding temperatures unless the clip was again unbuckled and the driver already left the car.
We didn’t need to start from scratch, as the development of the iOS version had already begun and the Android version was being born.
UI
Development
Care
With a custom-designed device communicating via the Bluetooth Low Energy protocol. Part of the assignment was to resolve issues related to communication with the dashboard unit.
The energy demands of the solution were quite a challenge. The clip could work as a regular device. If it was connected directly, the battery in the clip would immediately go flat, so we decided to use it as a simple transmitter only.
We also didn’t want to strain the battery in the mobile phone. This meant we couldn’t use it as the service device, which would need to detect the status of all the clips within reach as frequently as every single second.
UI
Development
Care
03 Overcoming obstacles
What we had to face
04 Highlights
How we resolved it
How we resolved it
Service device
The entire solution was built around a service device connected directly to the control unit of the car. This device aggregates the information from all the clips and enables interconnection with the app, sending the information to it only whenever the status of the clip changes.
RxJava
In the Android app, we implemented the service running on the background and taking care of the entire Bluetooth communication, including searching for nearby devices. We designed the service to be able to run without any time constraints because we wanted to connect to the dongle in the car separately in the background, without any interaction by the user. And we quickly chose the RxJava library, as we wanted a strong tool that enabled us to comfortably control and direct dataflow across the app.
CoreBluetooth
In the iOS app, we implemented two workers running in the background: the connection worker that searched for and connected to nearby devices and the dongle data worker that processed data from connected devices. Both workers are built on the CoreBluetooth framework and use its Background Execution Mode to be able to connect to the dongles in the background and process the data without the user having to open the app.
Analysers
In both versions, we implemented dozens of analysers to ensure the child’s safety. Each works as a separate unit, making it simple to test. The analysers process the data about the condition of the car, clip, strength of connection to the device, and location of the user; based on this data, they evaluate the level of danger and inform the user via local notifications. Also, it’s possible to set some situations in which a notification is sent to the cloud; this notification will then notify other members of the family as well.
05 Results
Positively reviewed by parents
Positively reviewed by parents
The app is a part of an entire ecosystem protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us.
While it has been awarded various prizes and very positively reviewed by parents, the most important thing for us is that we were able to participate in such a useful project.
The app is a part of an entire ecosystem protecting the lives of the most vulnerable among us.
While it has been awarded various prizes and very positively reviewed by parents, the most important thing for us is that we were able to participate in such a useful project.
06 Recognition
Awards
The Best of Babytech Awards 2018
Winner
Best of Baby Awards 2018
The Bump Winner
National Parenting Product Awards
Winner
Innovation Award
Best in Show