The COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact the lives of people across the country. To encourage healthy and safe practices to help stop the transmission of the coronavirus, FSU iSensor Lab, led by School of Information Associate Professor Shuyuan Mary Ho (pictured right), developed an app for Android devices called “CV19 SelfDefense.”

“This Collaborative Collision is a wonderful research opportunity that the Office of Research has created for researchers across campus,” said Ho. In partnership with Professor Xiuwen Liu from the Department of Computer Science and Professor Gordon Erlebacher from the Department of Scientific Computing, the team developed CV19 SelfDefense as part of a grant from FSU Collaborative Collision titled “Achieving economic normality and public health via deep learning modeling and contact tracing.”

“We hope this research can help society as we respond and protect everyone’s health during the pandemic,” Ho said.

CV19 SelfDefense users can create an account profile and utilize a variety of tools within the app. Recent postings from the World Health Organization (WHO), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are shared in the “News Updates” area of the app’s Dashboard, along with a testing center locator. A symptoms checker also assists users in assessing symptoms based on CDC guidelines.

The app’s “Social Distance ‘Nudge'” utilizes Bluetooth technology in order to help users practice social distancing. Via an automated or manual scan, users get “nudges” as a phone vibration or notification of other devices nearby. The app also features a quarantine monitor that helps users keep track of personal whereabouts during a self-quarantine period.

Stemmed from the CV19 SelfDefense invention, Ho is now collaborating with School of Information Professor Mia Lustria on an mHealth intervention study for public health. The research team will present and demo CV19 SelfDefense at the upcoming SBP-BRiMS annual conference, taking place virtually October 18-21, 2020.

To download CV19 SelfDefense and read more about the project, visit the FSU iSensor Lab website.