Burton Center for Arts and Technology
Center for Engineering
Student Engineering Project
Pulse Guard
Stay Alert, Drive Safe
Pulse Guard is a not-for-profit student engineering project focused on driver alertness and safety. Our team is exploring a wearable heart-rate device that can alert a drowsy driver with vibration.
The problem
Car crashes caused by drowsy driving result in tens of thousands of injuries and hundreds of deaths each year. Affordable driver-alert systems are also difficult to find, especially for people who drive older vehicles.
NHTSA estimates that 91,000 police-reported crashes involved drowsy drivers in 2017. Those crashes led to an estimated 50,000 injuries and nearly 800 deaths.
Community outreach
We asked 35 people, "Have you ever driven while drowsy?"
"While driving on the highway, I closed my eyes for a little too long and almost ran off the road."
Gage Allran
"One day I was working an eight-hour shift. When driving home I was nodding off. To stay awake I needed to play loud music."
Claire Yanishak
Research
Our research included a 2025 Scientific Reports study on using heart rate variability from wearable sensors for drowsiness detection. The researchers tested real driving data and found that HRV-based systems could provide timely driver alerts.
We also looked at products that already exist, including AI dashcams, ear nod detectors, eye detection glasses, steering wheel alerts, and vehicle speed detection. The designs have different limits. Camera systems can misread normal behavior. Ear nod detectors can react to a normal head tilt. Steering wheel systems are usually built into newer vehicles and infer drowsiness from lane movement.
Research paper: Exploiting heart rate variability for driver drowsiness detection using wearable sensors and machine learning
Our design
The sensor monitors the driver's heart rate and sends the reading to an Arduino, which calculates beats per minute and compares it with a threshold set during setup. When the alert condition is reached, the Arduino sends a HIGH signal through a 1 kΩ resistor to the base of a transistor.
The transistor completes the vibration motor circuit so power can flow from the 9V battery. A diode is connected in parallel with the motor to absorb voltage spikes when the motor switches on or off.
| Sensor | Heart-rate sensor |
|---|---|
| Controller | Arduino |
| Switching | 1 kΩ resistor and transistor |
| Alert | Vibration motor |
| Power | 9V battery |
Benefits of our design
- Vibration gives the driver a physical alert after drowsiness is detected.
- The controls include a button for setting average resting heart rate and a timer option for vibration every ten minutes.
- The heart-rate sensor is designed to detect unusual changes associated with drowsiness or sleep.
- The proposed device costs less than products such as AI dashcams, which can cost more than $200.
Project team
Center for Engineering, Burton Center for Arts and Technology
- Max Lang
- Josh Ebacha
- Aiden Nowocin
- Cameron Chidester
- Jeremiah Bellamy
- Wesley Owen