Echo-Sense

Inspiration

City life is busy and overwhelming. Many people move through their days on autopilot, going to work, scrolling on their phones, and waiting for the weekend. It’s easy to feel disconnected from your surroundings, your relationships, and even yourself. We wanted to create something that gently helps people come back to the present and feel more connected to their daily lives.

What it does

Echo-Sense is a wearable device that helps users notice how connected they are to their environment and their own body. It quietly tracks patterns like movement, focus, and physical signals, then turns them into simple feedback you can understand. You get: -A Connection Index that shows how present you are -Soft light and vibration cues that bring your attention back -Insights into daily habits like deep work, scrolling, rest, and activity It doesn’t demand your attention, but it gently guides it.

How we built it

We began by drafting up a moodboard–ideating, stitching together images that aligned with our vision. To make the user feel good about their actions and environment, to remind them to stay in the present moment and grounded to the earth. Futuristic technology is usually shown to assist with the smaller things in life. But it's never about being in the present and enhancing the sensation of life itself

Challenges we ran into

Overall, as a group, we haven't had the opportunity to explore the interfaces of futuristic technology. Up until now, as students, we've been focusing on current interfaces and how to provide value for various groups of people who use them. This also introduced us to rapid prototyping and reiterating alongside AI, which wasn't really a topic normally taught in classrooms. Having this as our first-ever designathon, we are proud to have learned collaboration techniques, organization, and how to plan/prepare better for future designathons/hackathons.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We turned the invisible feeling of presence into something people can see and understand.
We designed technology that supports real life instead of distracting from it.
We created gentle, calming feedback that helps without overwhelming users.
We reduced screen dependence by using light, motion, and touch.
We made self-awareness easier through small, everyday moments.