ENVIS

Logo
Demo website
Beta iOS app

Inspiration

At ENVIS, we believe that everyone deserves equal access to the world around them, regardless of their abilities. We were inspired by the desire to empower and equip individuals with disabilities to live their lives to the fullest, connecting them to their communities and the resources they need.

What it does

Project ENVIS is a final mile solution for the visually disabled. It consists of a web portal, a mobile app and NFC enabled Vision Pucks that all work together to provide individuals with visual impairments access to information and resources on demand. The web portal serves as a hub for enterprises to create and manage vision pucks, while the mobile app allows individuals to interact with our Vision Pucks and trigger text-to-speech functionality.

How we built it

The web portal was developed using React JS and linked to Firebase for database storage. The mobile app was built using SwiftUI with a focus on simplicity and ease-of-use, ensuring that individuals with visual impairments could easily interact with the vision pucks. Our team conducted extensive research on the current challenges faced by members of the visually impaired community and incorporating their needs into the design and development process.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges we faced was finding the right balance between customisation and standardisation. The Vision Pucks needed to be flexible enough to meet the needs of each enterprise, but also maintain a consistent standard to ensure compatibility with the ENVIS app. Additionally, developing a solution that was both accessible and user-friendly for individuals with visual impairments was a significant challenge.

Another challenge we faced was the tight 1-week time constraint for the mobile app development. This pressure made us make the difficult decision to change our development framework from Flutter to Swift, as we were more familiar with Swift and felt that it would allow us to meet the tight deadline while still delivering a high-quality product. Despite this change, we feel that we were still able to deliver a mobile app that met the needs of the visually impaired community and provided a seamless experience for our users.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve with ENVIS. Despite facing a number of challenges along the way, we have developed a solution that meets the needs of the visually impaired community and provides a seamless experience for our users.

Another accomplishment we're proud of is the speed at which we were able to learn and implement new technologies. Developing a solution like ENVIS required us to learn new technologies in a very short time span, but we were able to rise to the challenge and deliver a high-quality product.

Finally, we are proud of our idea and the passion we have for it. We truly believe in the potential of ENVIS to make a positive impact on the lives of those with visual disabilities and to help create a more inclusive world. We are committed to continuing to develop and improve ENVIS in order to bring our vision to life.

What we learned

The development of ENVIS was a unique learning experience for our team. We picked up new technologies like ReactJS, CSS and Flutter, which allowed us to create a web and mobile solution that met the needs of our users.

Additionally, the research we did into the challenges and existing solutions for the visually impaired was invaluable in helping us understand the needs of our target audience. We gained a deeper understanding of the difficulties that visually impaired individuals face and were able to create a solution that addresses these challenges in a meaningful way.

Overall, the development of ENVIS has taught us the importance of empathy and understanding in creating successful solutions. It has also given us a deeper appreciation for the power of technology to make a positive impact on people's lives.

What's next for ENVIS

The development of ENVIS is ongoing, and we have many exciting plans for the future. Our priority is to refine the application and add in production-critical features to ensure that the solution meets the needs of our users.

We are also looking forward to working with SG Enable, who are committed to improving the lives of the visually impaired in Singapore. We believe that by collaborating with this organisation, we can make a significant impact in the lives of visually impaired individuals and help create a more inclusive society.