Eudaimon

A storybook AI guide that turns your background into a Team USA pathway through data.

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Inspiration

Eudaimon comes from eudaimonia, the Greek idea of human flourishing. I liked that word because the project asks a bigger question than "what sport fits me?" It asks what kind of path makes someone feel capable and connected to something larger.

The experience was inspired by the feeling of a Google Doodle. Playful, interactive, a little magical, and still tied to something real. I wanted Eudaimon to feel like opening a storybook world. The user meets Dai, a small original companion character who guides the journey.

Fun fact: Dai is also partly named after my brother Daivik, who is neurodivergent and inspires me. I wanted the character to carry some of that spirit: curious, patient, and open to different ways of seeing the world.

The larger theme is that America's strength is its diversity. Team USA is great because so many different kinds of people can become part of the same national story. Different hometowns. Different bodies. Different ways of moving. Different odds to beat.

What it does

Eudaimon is an interactive narrative storybook with Dai, an AI guide you can talk to. The user answers questions about where they are from, how they like to move, and what kind of path feels natural to them. Dai turns those answers into a personal Team USA journey.

The app reveals the experience slowly, more like a small animated world than a results page. Dai reacts to the user's answers, moves the story forward, and connects them to patterns from Olympic and Paralympic Team USA history.

How we built it

We built Eudaimon with Next.js, React, and Node.js. Gemini runs through Google Cloud Vertex AI and powers Dai's responses. The app is deployed on Google Cloud Run, with BigQuery and Firestore supporting the cloud data pieces.

The data layer uses public Team USA, Olympic, and Paralympic sources. Those sources become broad historical patterns that Dai can use in the conversation, so the experience has a real statistical backbone under the storybook layer.

Challenges we ran into

The hardest part was making Dai feel alive. I wanted Dai to feel like a companion inside the world, with a real presence on screen and a voice that made the journey feel guided.

Another challenge was turning sports data into something inspiring without making it feel fake. The project needed a real technical structure underneath it, but the user experience still had to stay simple: talk to Dai, answer a few questions, and watch a pathway unfold.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I am proud that Eudaimon feels like an actual experience. Dai has a visual presence, the journey has a mood, and the data connects back to a bigger story about Team USA.

I am also proud that the project uses AI for more than a text box. Gemini helps Dai guide the user through the story, while the animation and data work make the world around him feel connected.

What we learned

I learned that statistics can feel emotional when they are presented as a story. A table of sports or placements can feel cold. Those same patterns feel different when they become part of a guided journey.

I also learned that the Team USA story is a story about beating the odds. There is no single shape of greatness. Some paths look obvious. Many do not. Eudaimon uses data to show that different starting points can still lead into the same larger story.

What's next for Eudaimon

Next, I would make Dai more expressive and make the story world richer. I would add more animations, more branching moments, and a stronger sense that the user is moving through a living Team USA map.

I would also expand the data and personalization so the journey can feel even more specific. I think if loads of kids could experience stories and ideas with someone there to guide them and inspire them it would help a lot of them!

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