Lotus Accessibility App

Inspiration

Panic attacks are experienced worldwide and can be unexpected. We designed an app with easy accessibility through the phone for individuals to reduce symptoms that they are experiencing during the attack.

What it does

Our app 'Lotus' presents a range of different techniques that can help guide a disorientated individual when panicking. With a customisable menu, personalisation of the app can aid one's mood in visual imagery to allow them to focus away from the attack. Lotus focuses on breathing control through counting where the individual can follow a visual countdown while inhaling and exhaling to calm themselves. Through the use of digital cameras, Lotus incorporates technology to create spots on the ground for the individual to 'stomp' on them allowing ease of muscle tenseness. Motion sensing technology is embedded within this technique to process the action of stomping to generate new spots.

How we built it

We attempted to use Taipy for the back and front end with unity AR integrated. The reason for the AR integration is that during panic attacks, many find it easier to breathe when stamping on the floor - a visual cue to stamp on would have been a simple and effective tool. In the end we used tkinter for the whole thing as these systems did not end up being easily integrated.

Challenges we ran into

Taipy took a long time to install on one of our computers and there didn't seem to be much documentation surrounding it which made working with it a challenge. We had to switch to tkinter at the last minute which was a shame. tkinter didn't install with my vscode properly so I had to switch to repl (an online IDE). Unity 3D was hard to use and trouble shoot with limited compatibility with other systems we were unaware of going into development. In general technical issues absorbed a lot of our development time.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Persevering through the difficulties of technology knowing that we would not be able to complete the development in time. Another thing that we're proud of is our team spirit and communication as we all enjoyed the past 24 hours and worked hard both individually and together towards our goal.

What we learned

Our planning stages were well thought out and we worked incredibly well as a team with contributions in every step. We learned that not everything will work smoothly and that in life, you have to work around this and strive to do the best you can of your capability.