Inspiration

This year's theme asked for something a Halloween character could use in daily life. We thought of zombies: forgetful, wandering, and often lost. Then we realized millions of real people face the same thing every day. People living with dementia or memory loss forget the day, lose track of their routine, don't recognize familiar faces, and sometimes get lost, while their families worry constantly. We built BrainBridge for them.

What it does

Dashboard: today's date, the time, and the next task in your routine, in big, clear text.
I'm Lost button: one tap opens a calm emergency screen with your home address, a one-tap button to call your caregiver, and familiar places with Google Maps directions. It also sends your location to your caregiver.
Caregiver view: the caregiver sees the alert live, the moment the button is pressed.
Who is this?: point the camera at someone and the app tells you who they are and how you know them.
Daily routine: a step-by-step checklist for the day.
Light and dark mode for comfortable viewing.

How we built it

Next.js (React + TypeScript) with Tailwind CSS on the frontend, and a FastAPI (Python) backend with SQLite. WebSockets push live alerts to the caregiver, the browser's Geolocation API finds the user, and face-api.js recognizes faces right in the browser.

Challenges we ran into

Keeping the emergency screen simple enough for someone who is confused and stressed: everything had to fit on one screen with no scrolling. We also worked through database changes mid-hackathon and coordinating Git branches across the team.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

A working end-to-end flow: press I'm Lost on one device and the caregiver sees the alert live on another.

What we learned

Designing for accessibility means fewer choices, bigger text, and clear actions, plus a lot about full-stack teamwork in a single day.

What's next for BrainBridge

Email and SMS alerts for caregivers, a "Find my stuff" feature for lost keys and items, and an AI daily journal that answers "What did I do yesterday?"