HarmonyCare

Inspiration

Our team initially came upon this topic by wanting to create a combination of hardware and software components to create a real-world practical solution. We began by brainstorming many physical ways we could impact the Healthcare industry. After much consideration, we finally decided upon tackling a major problem in Healthcare: The administration of medicine and drugs. Modern medical research concludes that many people neglect taking their medicines or, end up taking far more than their prescriptions. Finally, a problem had been identified and we could begin tackling it. Our group decided to create a physical prototype design for a new pill container that would be able to identify exactly how much medicine the patient is consuming and when their prescription would be running low. Once this design had been prototyped in CAD we then coded a web application that would connect the patient to the caregiver and allow for quick updates/notifications upon upcoming issues. This way the caregivers are more connected with their patients and can assure that the adequate amount of care is given every time.

What it does

Our prototype smart pill dispenser measures out the perfect dosage of pills and notifies the patient when its time to take their prescription. It also calculates how many dosages are left and how much the patient is consuming/taking. We then created an app that connects the caregivers to the patients to create a one-stop shop for all the patients healthcare questions and care. The app provides emotional support, connects with the caregivers, and stores all the patients information in a running database making it easier for caregivers to diagnose new issues quickly and help give better care to clients.

How we built it

We built the physical prototype design using CAD and then the software side using Java, Java Springboot, Firebase, HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap. Java and Java Springboot created the entire backend network connecting the web app together. Firebase was used to store the patients information in a running database with all the necessary details required for their care. Finally, the frontend was developed using HTML, CSS, and Bootstrap to effectively create a beautiful GUI that is both professional and effective.

Challenges we ran into

Some challenges we ran into included: Difficulty with Github since it was not working the way we wanted it to during the beginning of the project. Our project Push/Pulls were not working right and we kept encountering multiple bugs and defects. Furthermore, our logo was not displaying properly on the web application despite trying multiple different ways to incorporate it. The logo would show up fine in previews but never show up when the program was officially run. This created lots of frustration since our syntax was correct and the implementations were correct, yet the logo just was not working on our website.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of the scale of the web application produced, and its functionality of being able to operate on computers, phones, and tablets. This is the first big project our group has done of this size and scale utilizing this many different technologies and combinations of languages for a massive problem and we're extremely happy with the end results. There are no errors and the program runs as it is meant to run, which is something very exciting in timed hackathon settings.

What we learned

We all learned a lot about each other's responsibilities and our own skill sets. Every single group member brought something to the table which was amazing for us since we had never collaborated on a project of this scale. I learned plenty of Backend concepts and implementations, Adrian learned many things about Frontend Development and Yousuf had a lot of fun working with CAD for the first time. Overall, this Hackathon was an amazing experience to learn so much about creating solutions to real-world problems and potential methods on how these solutions can be reached.

What's next for HarmonyCare

In the future, HarmonyCare plans to add much more functionality. This includes notifications to Caregivers when the patient has gone more than 48 hours without taking their necessary medications. A mobile app to further increase user utilization and make HarmonyCare more user-friendly. Last but not least, HarmonyCare also wants to bring forward more physical products like the smart pill dispenser. Finally, HarmonyCare also wants to add more functionality like visit scheduling with patients and record-keeping functionality for caregivers.