Smombie Guardian: We watch for potential obstacles while you are walking and conducting smartphone activities

PLoS One. 2018 Jun 26;13(6):e0197050. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0197050. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

With the growing dependence on smartphones for everyday activities, a large number of pedestrians nowadays are constantly fixated on their smartphone screens, and hence are susceptible to walking off pavements or colliding with other pedestrians. Reduced attention and situational awareness can render smartphone-occupied users, or smombies, oblivious to potential risks when using their smartphones while walking or driving. In this paper, we introduce a smartphone application, called Smombie Guardian, that detects obstacles and alerts smombies as they walk while viewing their smartphone screens to prevent potential collisions. Based on a user study with 74 participants who used Smombie Guardian in a real-life scenario, we highlight the effectiveness, usefulness, and unobtrusiveness of the algorithm and Smombie Guardian in helping users to avoid potential obstacles.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Mobile Applications*
  • Smartphone*

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea grant numbers NRF-2017M3C4A7083529 to KH, NRF-2016R1C1B2011415 to YN, and NRF-2014M3C9A3064706 to JSS (https://www.nrf.re.kr/). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.