CatBot

Project: CatBot Hackathon: blairhacks_3 Team: TMDL PART 3 ELECTRIC BOOGADEEEEE Team Members: Lena Cui, Elia Safir, Bracklinn Williams

Problem: Mental health and depression are huge problems in the modern era. Many of these problems can be addressed or aided by discussion and talking about feelings and problems.

Solution: Although a bot can never replace a human, they can provide the opportunity for discussion when a person cannot talk to real people. They can also provide the practice and courage to put people on the path to finding their own support network. We created a chatbot with several 'personalities' to provide comfort and support for people struggling with mental health. These bots are based on the main bot, the "cat" bot. The "Cat" bot just simulates interacting with a particularly benign lap cat, the sort of interaction that decreases stress. The "Lilly" bot encourages users to explain their feelings and the things that have happened with them, and can help them keep a diary record of their past feelings. This can make the user more mindful and more understanding of their feelings. The "Selene" bot simulates an interaction with a positive friend, and helps promote positive thoughts that build confidence (such as asking the user to think of a time that they thought proud of themselves). The "Nyan" bot serves a random meme. These can hopefully bring joy and laugter to an otherwise gloomy day.

Future development: In the future, the chatbots could be developed to work on platforms such as Discord.

Built With

• java