The App Developed By IIT Kharagpur To Support Smoking Cessation

People now can get the support in smoking cessation via an application on their phones which is developed by the scientists of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (also known as IIT Kpg).

This application will be installed in a smartphone or a fitness tracker to monitor the user’s behavior of smoking and give a warning alarm if any cigarette is burnt. This warning alarm will be also transferred to smokers’ friends, relatives or doctors for timely intervention to prevent them from tobacco.

For further information, Ram Babu Roy, an assistant professor and head of research team at IIT Kgp’s Rajendra Mishra School of Engineering Entrepreneurship said that the team is still on the process of developing the first version of activity monitoring unit based on sensors to follow the daily activities and smoking habits of users.

Roy added that this device could prevent smokers from tobacco because when they smoked, they would receive all types of message or phone calls to remind them of tobacco cessation from their friends, families or doctors.

The application on smartphones which is being developed also offers the analysis of data collected when tracking users and sends warning messages concerning unhealthy lifestyle, as well as the right advice. Through integrated sensors, the app can automatically recognize behaviors of addiction and depression.

However, this app is only effective for those who determine to stop smoking and strictly follow the steps on the cessation process, added Roy.

This innovation would create a profile for users to record their smoking behaviors which are based on the data collected from their activities. Thereby, users could estimate various smoking’s effects on their health. In addition, they and their contacts would receive notifications of health risks if they continued to smoke.

Furthermore, another benefit of this app is that the profile could be used to set up incentive plans (that insurance firms exploit to decrease or increase an insurance premium) or customize plans for intervention. Someone succeeds in limiting his smoking will receive some message to congratulate his efforts.

The research team is trying to file a patent to introduce this app into further commerce. It is said to be the pioneer app in monitoring smoking behaviors in the world. This app is expected to be integrated into the fitness app available in the current market.