Bluetooth Enabled Breathalyzer

[Al] at Open Gadgets just put the finishing touches on his Android breathalyzer. It’s the perfect thing to install on ex-girlfriends’ phones to prevent 2 a.m. drunk dialing.

The project started off as a talking breathalyzer connected to a computer that tweeted your BAC, gave weather and stock readouts, and functioned as a photo booth. Since the first reveal of his project, [Al] moved from the desktop world to the mobile domain.

The breathalyzer itself is contained entirely in an Altoids tin. The build is based on the IOIO board that recently got support for Bluetooth. An alcohol sensor in the project measures the alcohol content of the surrounding atmosphere and reports this back to a phone over Bluetooth. There’s no word if the Android version of [Al]’s breathalyzer has the Twitter and photo booth functions, they would be relatively easy to add.

While a wirelesss, tweeting breathalyzer lends itself to a competition for a high score, [Al]’s project could have a few very good implantation; a DIY auto ignition interlock would be a very useful device for some people. Check out the videos of [Al]’s builds after the break.

[vimeo=31893552]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=6rloXAwdNUA]

8 thoughts on “Bluetooth Enabled Breathalyzer

  1. Folks- Let’s keep this on a dare I pun, sober focus.

    Being totally serious about such concepts requires a bit of compassion and balancing it with humor to not scream or cry. Those of us who have had anyone in our life who needs a reminder that they are *NOT* safe to drive will understand my point.

    The point is enabling awareness at base and making the point unsubtle enough that it might prevent Very Bad Things. Emphasis on “might prevent” should be the next level of awareness and appreciation for all of these devices.

    As for the purely technical- Requiring the camera of that Android device to be watching the driver provides a record of compliance/attempts to evade.

    The legal and Psych value of that “you are being watched on several levels” may provide a bit more Gravitas to reinforce further caution WrT driving impaired.

    The other thoughts of purely implementation layers include using cheap Android tablets as WiFi or even just write to Flash storage may be “Good Enough” for many cases. And- in cars with factory BT enabled- coding some sort of interlock firmware may be less non trivial compared to other interfacing points.

    Awareness produces accountability and video evidence secures non-repudiation in a very powerful fashion.

  2. Tweet the fact you are drunk, doesn’t anyone think things through anymore? That only gives some drinkers a challenge, and a game to play.Interesting project, but I’m not sure what real utility this really has with persons are impaired. Maybe a machine on a friend’s phone may convince not to drive, but I really doubt it will do so for very many. As for using it as a vehicle lock, what liability is there for the hacker that installs this for a family member or friend, and it fails to prevent drub driving, and an accident?

    1. on the 48 hour pre-heat, for the purposes of this device which is not meant to be BAC precise, the 48 hour pre-heat is not required. Testing was done though doing the 48 hour pre-heat, the results actually were the same. On the lipo battery power, power is only given when the android phone is on (i,e, when it naturally goes into screen off/power saving mode, the power to the alcohol sensor is cut off to conserve the battery).

  3. Ok so I’m all against habitual drunk drivers and all… but if this could be something that could raise more awareness about their current state before putting the keys in the ignition, then it could definitely be helpful. It’s not as embarrassing as some of those ignition lock devices out there.

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