When you’re out having a drink or two, how do you know when you’ve reached your limit? After you feel a little buzzed, do you close your bar tab? Do you keep going, but at a slower pace?

A team of social workers and engineers at The Ohio State University set out to answer this question, with a focus on college-aged drinkers. Their study, published in IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, used complex mathematical models to help explain the factors that affect drinking. They obtained blood-alcohol levels on nearly 1,500 students at college parties and bars.

Their results showed that the students typically drank until they reached their desired level of tipsiness. They then eased up on their drinking or switched to water or another non-alcoholic beverage in order to stay in this altered mental state.

The ultimate goal of this and similar studies the team is working on? To create a smartphone app that will send a message to you when you’ve had enough to drink. For example, if you’re about to head to a party, you could let the app know how much you intend to drink that evening. Based on your blood-alcohol level, measured by an anklet or some other device, the app would alert you when you should switch to water or eat a snack. The app would also remind users not to drive home if their blood-alcohol level is above the legal limit.

The National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism will be releasing a device in 2017 called BACtrack Skyn that resembles a FitBit and monitors how much you’ve had to drink, and connects with a smartphone via Bluetooth.

So even if you lose track of how many beers you’ve had, an electronic wingman will be around to keep you from overdoing it.