Bengaluru techie's new AI gadget detects smoking, scolds smokers in public spaces
India Today
A Bengaluru techie developed an AI-powered device that detected public smoking and responded with audio cues, aimed to discourage smoking in shared spaces.
A Bengaluru techie revealed his latest invention, a small AI-powered device designed to detect people smoking in public spaces and respond by playing audio of a baby coughing along with a grandmother scolding the smoker.
Sharing the project on X, the techie explained his annoyance with public smoking, writing, “I HATE people smoking around me in public. so I built a device that plays audio of a baby coughing and granny abusing in local language whenever it detects someone smoking nearby.”
He added that the system performs person detection, identifies a cigarette in hand, and recognises smoking gestures “all in realtime.”
He claimed that the prototype was built using “yolov8 + mediapipe with some finetuning,” while Sarvam AI handled the audio component. The setup ran on a Raspberry Pi and, as he described it, is “nothing fancy, but it works.”
He also shared an early real-world test, saying the device was tried at a bus stand where “one guy actually looked around confused and put out his cigarette. He'll never know it was me.”
The current version was only an initial prototype demonstrated on public photos to avoid using real individuals, with the techie mentioning he was working on a 3D-printed portable version that he hoped to release soon.
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