Ideation for (d)well
The problems addressed at the start of the hackathon were (1) the long lines faced by the unhoused waiting for food (2) the scarcity of volunteers and (3) continual access. What our team devised is an intelligent vending machine and interface for nonprofits to use to share goods. These vending machines can be accessed 24/7 to provide a meal 3 times a day for the unhoused.
The inspiration came from the realization that unhoused individuals do not own mobile devices. Therefore, we cannot follow the design of the standard user interface. The vending system provides both visible and easy access. The machines are designed and placed strategically so they are woven into the urban fabric of the city. The inconspicuous and integrated design of the machines provide the sense of dignity for the users. Adjacent to the machines are partnered agencies that both package and dispense the food to prevent vandalism of the machines. We are leaving the decisions of food selection to the agencies that have a history of effectively dispensing food.
The user would pick up one key fob from pre-existing homeless shelters.
User Interaction
The user approaches the machine. The user puts their key fob up to the interface to start the selection process. This fob does not tie back to the user's identity. The user machine provides selections from which the user can choose from which are either dispensing a boxed meal or gaining credits. The packaged meal looks as follows:
We created a vending machine system specifically because it is both visible and provides easy access and it affords the unhoused to use the interfaces we are accustomed to. Our team called the application (d)well because these machines would natural be a place for the unhoused to congregate.
The user also has the ability to annotate maps of the cities to earn credits. These annotations would happen on the vending machine and the data would be send to the relevant municipal planning agencies. Since these individuals inhabit the city streets they have a greater spatial understanding and awareness than the average resident. This empowers the unhoused to help their city.
These kiosks enable a wider range of volunteers for packaging and distributing the food. The food selection should leaving up to the agencies because they have a history of what types of food are able to be dispensed.
What it does
A user has the ability to get 3 meals a day. When their fob is processed and the user needs to wait four hours in- between the next dispersal.
How we built it
The vending machine was modeled in Cinema 4D/Maya and the game mechanics and interface programming was done in the Unity Game Engine using C#. The IBM Watson SDK was utilized for the speech recognition.
Challenges we ran into
We need to further address the security of these vending machines. For example, one user trying to get more than one meal at a time or having an user with multiple key FOB
Accomplishments that we are proud of
We believe this is a very unique solution and is win-win for the user and the sponsors. This vending machines will address some of existing issues at the distribution centers while also allowing more volunteers and sponsors to help the unhoused.
What I learned
We have a greater appreciation for the volunteers who assist the unhoused. We also learned that they are not able to accept all the help they need.
What's next for (d)well
Phase (I) is our proof of concept with simple items.
Phase (II): Different machines would dispense different items. And users would have more choices in food item. They could see Interface they can see the inventory for each of the machines. We would also look to incorporate dietary restrictions.
About the Hackathon
From the hackathon website: "Join the Girls in Tech, San Francisco chapter and Hackbright Academy as we innovate for social change once again! This year, we're tackling topics that deal with the San Francisco Bay Area including (but not limited to) the following:
- Homelessness
- Affordable Housing
- Economic Disparity
- Drug Abuse
Hackathons exist to enable the rapid prototyping of a complex problem and provide a range of solutions in a short period of time. By hacking with us, we are aiming to think bigger for global change with tech, whilst also allowing impassioned women to engage in innovation and entrepreneurship within our tech ecosystem."
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