HerCompanion

Inspiration

In this age, many females lack the confidence to educate and advocate for themselves. One in five females feel insecure in public at night. Every year, 10,000 tonnes of reusable school supplies are trashed. And 130 million girls are denied their human right to education. We understand these struggles because we feel them too—scared to walk home without a friend, unsure what to do with old school materials, seeking tips on how to survive high school, and reluctant to buy new supplies when others could be shared. We, too, often lack the confidence to stand up for ourselves. But together, we can change this narrative. Our website is a beacon of hope and empowerment, designed to build confidence, promote safety, encourage resource sharing, and provide educational support. It’s time for us to advocate for ourselves and each other, transforming our insecurities into strengths and our challenges into opportunities for growth and unity.

What it does

Discover our all-in-one app designed to empower and support students in every aspect of their academic journey. Travel safely with our Safety Companion, which provides practical tips and an interactive chatbot to ensure users are prepared for any situation. Access essential goods and services easily through our Supply Exchange, promoting sustainability and resource sharing. Gain valuable insights and guidance from experienced professionals and former students with our Alumni Advice feature. Enhance your learning experience with Personalized Learning Assistance, offering tailored support to help you achieve your personal and professional goals through AI-driven learning. Our app is your ultimate companion for a safer, smarter, and more connected educational experience.

How we built it

We started with the Chatbot, coding it to introduce itself as "Hi, I’m HerCompanion." Initially, we allowed it to emulate three public personalities across various industries, but this yielded poor results. We refined our approach by narrowing it down to the teaching and doctoring industries, letting users choose their preferred personalities. The chatbot now accurately imitates the chosen personality for all questions asked. For the Website, we began by brainstorming the idea and layout on paper, creating a design flow, and establishing the order of the pages. We then designed the logo and proceeded to code the content and text for the website. Buttons, links, and pictures were added, and the site was polished and finalized with careful attention to detail, ensuring a seamless user experience.

Challenges we ran into

As beginner coders, creating the website and chatbots posed significant challenges. We brainstormed ideas using the engineering design process but encountered multiple bugs during coding. Navigating and editing each page of the website separately was difficult and time-consuming. With the chatbot, we struggled to implement functionality for changing AI personalities, initially producing unsatisfactory results until we refined our approach. Despite these obstacles, we persevered and successfully brought our vision to life.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of several key accomplishments. First, we successfully created two imitation bots, showcasing our ability to code functional and engaging chatbots. We also developed a fully functioning website that is easy to navigate and user-friendly. Our aesthetic user interface is designed to make girls feel comfortable and welcome. Remarkably, we were able to complete both the website and chatbots within the first four hours of the hackathon, demonstrating our efficiency and teamwork. These achievements highlight our commitment to creating an empowering and supportive platform for students.

What we learned

Through this project, we learned that many other girls face similar problems and share the same fears as we do, reinforcing the importance of creating a supportive platform. On the coding side, we discovered how to effectively use available resources such as YouTube tutorials, mentors, and our previous knowledge to overcome challenges and develop our app. This experience has not only enhanced our technical skills but also deepened our understanding of the common issues girls face, driving us to create solutions that truly resonate with our community.

What's next for HerCompanion

Our next steps for HerCompanion involve partnering with local organizations and government agencies to promote the app and its benefits. We plan to share HerCompanion with our community through targeted marketing and outreach efforts to ensure it has a tangible impact. Our goal is to convince 20 alumni students to share their experiences on the platform and to have 50 students sign up, fostering a robust and supportive user base. By expanding our reach and building strong community connections, we aim to empower even more students and create lasting positive change.

Built With

• botpress
• html
• java
• javascript