CortexR

Inspiration

Our inspiration for CortexR came from taking cognitive science classes at college, where we learned about different parts of the brain and how the brain develops through learning. It made us think about how much personal growth happens in our brains, but people rarely have a way to actually see or understand that process. Through our user interviews, we also found that many people weren’t sure if they were actively growing or improving over time. This inspired us to design a tool that helps make learning and brain development more accessible and visible.

What it does

CortexR is a smartwatch-integrated system paired with a holographic AR interface that helps users understand how their brain engages with different activities. The watch collects physiological signals while the AR interface turns that data into visualizations like a 3D brain model and dashboards. This helps users see patterns in how they learn and grow over time.

How we built it

We started by brainstorming ideas and going through several design iterations to explore how users might interact with their brain data. We then created prototypes in Figma to design the interface, including features like the interactive brain model, learning timeline, and other visualizations that show how different activities engage the brain. Creating these prototypes helped us visualize the user experience and refine how the different features would work together.

Challenges we ran into

One challenge we ran into was thinking carefully about privacy since brain data is very personal. We wanted to make sure the system didn’t feel intrusive, so we designed it so users choose when they want to view their data through the smartwatch. Another challenge was avoiding burnout, where instead of focusing on daily performance, CortexR highlights longer-term learning patterns so users can see progress over time without feeling stressed about individual days.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are really proud of how our prototypes turned out and how clearly they represent our overall idea. Through Figma, we were able to design detailed interfaces that show how users would interact with the brain model, learning timeline, and other features. Seeing the concept come together visually made our idea feel much more real and helped us communicate our vision for CortexR.

What we learned

This project taught us how important user research is when designing new technology. When brainstorming features, we learned to focus on ideas that would actually benefit our target audience instead of adding features that might distract from our main goal. It also showed us the importance of prioritizing the most meaningful parts of the experience and staying aligned with our original problem. At the same time, we gained experience designing and iterating quickly, using prototyping to test ideas and refine the concept as we went.

What's next for CortexR

The next step for CortexR is user testing. We want to gather feedback on our prototypes to understand how people interact with the interface and whether the visualizations are clear and meaningful. This will help us identify what works well and what parts of the design could be improved. From there, we can continue refining the experience and developing the concept further.