DrinkLink

Webapp that helps consumers enjoy and drink responsibly whilst ensuring their safe return home at the end of a night

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Inspiration

Being university students, we run into these issues every time we go on a night out. We were looking to develop a platform that allows users to automatically track each other just in case of emergencies. However, we also wanted to make responsible drinking engaging by providing an outlet - a Twitter Bot - to generate new alcoholic mixers as well as introduce the masses to new cocktails and drinking games.

What it does

The flagship feature of DrinkLink is the companion aspect of the app which allows responsible users to track the whereabouts of that one friend that always manages to wonder off at the end of a night out. This is done by pairing the devices to a unique code These linked devices are regularly updated with each other's current location, thus providing piece of mind for all members of the party.

The features include a twitter bot which uses AIs to allow users to send emojis to receive a unique combination of drinks, as well as send in #cocktail to receive a random cocktail and the ingredients and recipe required to make it, and also send in #game to receive a random drinking game with a link to the rules.

Another feature on DrinkLink is a feature that allows users to be aware of their intake of alcohol by allowing the user to input the alcohol being consumed in order to calculate and then show them the units of alcohol they are consuming.

As well as notifying the users of each other's locations, the app allows you to set your home address when before going out so that when you may want to go home, all the user would need to do it click on the take me home feature which opens google maps with directions to the predetermined location.

How we built it

For the Twitter bot, Python 3 was used along with tweepy libraries and a cocktail database API.

The main web app was deployed using FireBase along with JavaScript and Vue.js.

Swift was used for the iOS tracking application

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge to overcome was the location aspect of the webapp. This was due to issues caused by background location tracking which needed to remain on whilst the webapp was not in use. Using just the web app to facilitate this was not possible. To overcome this, a seperate mobile iOS application was made that could keep tracking location even in the background. The twitterbot had challenges as this is the first time the team had ever implemented such an idea, but as it had worked so well, over the 24 hr period it had been developed to have 3 functions to make drinking fun, social and engaging.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Overcoming our challenges, especially when having to create an iOS app to fix issues to do with JavaScript.

What we learned

Being a team with two non DoC students (one chemist and one geophysicist), the two non DoC students learnt a great deal about software development cycles and programming in an integrated development environment. The non-Computing members also learnt that certain languages are better adapted for certain applications, learning that JavaScript would not run in the background and as a result the application would have to be made. The DoC students leant how to work better as a team and the integration of multiple language projects.

What's next for DrinkLink

Next for DrinkLink, the webapp needs to become optimised to work on all devices as it currently has a functional iOS application but in order to be inclusive, it would be necessary to create an application compatible with Android. We would also like to develop a way of recording and analysis an individuals drinking habits/intake to advise the user on how to lead a healthier lifestyle.

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