Inspiration
The project kicked off with the concern that since astronauts are on an year-long space mission in an isolated environment & demanding responsibilities, far, far away from home, which led to the idea of connecting them and reminding them of their home planet Earth.
What it does
Interstellar Cafe simulates a cozy Earth cafe ambiance with background imagery and sounds, enabling astronauts to engage in real-time conversations in global or private chat servers.
How we built it
We developed the app using React.js for the frontend and Node.js with WebSocket for the backend, ensuring smooth real-time communication and an immersive user experience, as well as three.js for 3D models on the landing page.
Challenges we ran into
We faced difficulties in optimizing real-time communication over WebSockets and ensuring smooth ambient sound playback without lag, as well as developing private/global servers in a limited amount of time, which we ultimately decided not to complete the implementation.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're proud of creating a seamless, engaging atmosphere in both the landing page and cafe that offers astronauts a sense of Earthly comfort and successfully integrating real-time chat with an inviting visual and auditory experience!!!
What we learned
We learned the difficulty and the high-level of understanding required of the project framework for each engineers in the team, to ensure the implementation of each codes do not clash onto each other and make sure changes to a software product do not negatively impact its existing functionality
What's next for Interstellar Cafe, BostonHacks 2024
Since we could not accomplish a lot of functionalities to provide relaxing experience for the astronaut users, in the future we want to: implement animation of zooming onto earth upon joining server, as well as the option to create/join private server in which, for example, the astronauts can reconnect with their family members in a setting of their choosing. We would also like to add more scenes for cafe - currently we have a "city cafe" ambience, but we can add other scenery such as a cafe located near a mountain, beach, snow mountain, etc. to accommodate for astronauts that come from different landscapes/countries.
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