Copper One

Transactions
Analytics
Goals
Rewards
Settings/Parental Lock
Penny
Welcome Screen
Game
Create Account
Create Account
Log-In
Chores
Learn

As we explored Capital One’s “Reimagine Banking” challenge, we wanted to make financial education engaging, gamified, and interactive. Our idea grew into Copper One, a platform where kids can learn financial concepts through play, track their goals, and earn rewards while parents stay involved through a secure dashboard.

Copper One is a financial education app designed for kids and families. It blends learning modules, chores, savings goals, and a fun AI companion named Penny to create a safe, educational ecosystem for money management.

What We Learned:

Building Copper One taught us much more than just technical skills.
Financial literacy design requires empathy — we learned how to simplify complex concepts for children.
Team collaboration across React, Firebase, and AI pipelines improved our understanding of modular architecture.
User testing with kids and parents helped shape our UI/UX into something truly engaging.
We also gained insight into how AI can empower education responsibly when properly sandboxed and redacted.
Financial Learning: Curated modules from Khan Academy on saving, budgeting, debt, and investments.
Goal Setting: Kids can set savings goals, track progress, and earn “Piggy Points.”
Chores System: Parents assign chores with rewards, teaching earning and responsibility.
Penny AI Assistant: Local LLM-powered tutor (Llama 3 / Phi-3) that explains financial concepts in kid-friendly terms.
Finance Quest Game: An interactive HTML5 mini-game that teaches financial decision-making.
Analytics Dashboard: Visual breakdowns of spending, savings, and progress.
Security: PIN-protected pages, data redaction, and parent-admin roles.

We built it using:

Frontend: React 19 + TypeScript + Tailwind CSS
Backend: Firebase (Functions + Firestore) with Node.js + Express
AI Assistant: Local Ollama instance running Llama 3.2 3B and Phi-3 Mini
Learning Modules: Khan Academy API integration
Analytics: Client-side visualizations and real-time updates
Game Engine: Embedded HTML5/Canvas-based financial learning mini-game

The architecture included: React Frontend→Firebase API Layer→Firestore (Data)→Ollama (AI Layer)

We used React Context API for global state management, Zod for schema validation, Firebase Emulators for local testing, JSON-based AI response parsing for consistent replies from Penny and our team collaborated via Git + Firebase Hosting, testing each feature in real-time.

Challenges we ran into were:

Integrating AI locally: Running LLMs like Llama 3.2 3B locally through Ollama was challenging due to model memory constraints and JSON parsing errors.
Security and PIN system: Balancing usability with security for kids’ accounts required careful UX and context management.
Data Persistence: Transitioning from localStorage prototypes to Firestore syncing while keeping app state consistent.
Game embedding: Ensuring smooth performance and cross-browser support for the Finance Quest mini-game.
Structured AI communication: Designing system prompts and enforcing structured JSON responses for Penny’s advice.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of:

Completed MVP with 12 major features, including AI, analytics, and parental monitoring.
Kid-friendly AI assistant that gives age-appropriate financial advice.
Integrated real educational content from Khan Academy directly into the app.
PIN-protected system that keeps sensitive actions secure.
Gamified financial learning, making serious topics like budgeting fun.
Fully deployable Firebase stack — ready for hosting and production use.

What's Next for Copper One:

The MVP is complete and production-ready — but we’re just getting started. Upcoming milestones:

Firebase Authentication for cloud-based user management.
Mobile App (React Native) for better accessibility.
Global learning expansion with multilingual support.
Parent insights dashboard with advanced analytics and recommendations.
Expanded AI personalities — Penny’s friends who specialize in investing, saving, and entrepreneurship.
Physical Piggy Bank Hardware Extension: Using RFID or sensors to detect real money deposits linked to the app.

We didn’t just build a banking app, we built a foundation for financial literacy that grows with every child.