കൂടെ (Koode)

Care Beyond Distance, Connected by a Call.

Inspiration

We began by thinking about a reality many families face today: as children move to different cities or countries for education and work, caring for their aging parents becomes increasingly difficult. Some families turn to old-age homes, while others hire home nurses or caregivers to look after their parents when they cannot be present themselves. Although these options can provide essential support, we wondered whether technology could help elderly people maintain their independence while allowing their children to stay involved in their everyday lives.

What happens when an elderly parent living alone misses a meal, forgets medication, or experiences a medical emergency while their children are miles away? A missed phone call might mean nothing, or it might mean something serious. For families, that uncertainty can be overwhelming.

We wanted to explore a solution that would not force elders to learn complicated applications or depend entirely on internet connectivity. Instead, we imagined a system that could reach them through something familiar: a simple phone call in their own language.

Inspired by the Malayalam word "കൂടെ" (Koode), meaning "together" or "beside you," we envisioned a platform that connects elderly parents with their families through automated check-ins, personalized voice interactions, and coordinated emergency alerts.

Our goal is not to replace the human touch of family members, professional caregivers, or old-age care facilities. It is to make staying connected easier, help families notice potential concerns sooner, and support older adults who wish to live independently.

With Koode, we want distance to become less of a barrier to care, so that even when children cannot be physically present, their parents do not have to feel forgotten.

Elder Phone

Designed for simplicity and accessibility, the elder-facing interface features:

• One-tap daily check-ins: A large button labeled "ഞാൻ സുഖമായിരിക്കുന്നു" ("I am doing well") allows elders to report their well-being.
• Emergency SOS: A prominent button lets elders flag situations requiring immediate attention, with optional reasons such as feeling unwell, missing a meal, or feeling lonely.
• Voice-based check-ins: Personalized Malayalam and English prompts ask questions such as "ഭക്ഷണം കഴിച്ചോ?" ("Have you had your meal?") and "മരുന്ന് കഴിച്ചോ?" ("Have you taken your medicines?").
• Simple keypad interaction: Elders can answer automated calls using their regular phone's dial pad, without needing to navigate an application.
• Daily care routines: Large, readable cards display scheduled meals, medication reminders, and other routines.

Family Dashboard

The caregiver interface provides a centralized view of daily well-being and care coordination through four tabs:

• Home: Displays daily status, upcoming reminders, a seven-day overview, and recommended next actions.
• Wellbeing: Maintains a history of check-ins, reported concerns, and missed check-ins.
• Care Plan: Allows caregivers to manage medication reminders, schedule check-in calls, customize questions, and maintain a shared family care logbook.
• Support & Emergency Network: Organizes family members and trusted neighbors into an escalation structure and provides quick access to emergency numbers.

Coordinated Emergency Response

When an elder triggers an SOS or reports a concern, Koode supports incident tracking through a five-stage response timeline:

Alert Sent → Accepted → En Route → Arrived → Resolved

Caregivers can acknowledge an incident, indicate that they are travelling to the elder, confirm their arrival, and record the resolution.

The platform also supports a multi-tier escalation workflow that can involve family members, trusted neighbors, and emergency services when configured.

Automated Cellular Calling

Koode integrates Exotel IVR with Supabase backend services to support scheduled outbound calls to ordinary cellular phones.

Elders can receive calls without installing Koode on their own device or requiring an internet connection for the call itself. Family members can also personalize check-in questions using recorded voice prompts.

Cloud-based scheduling allows recurring calls to be initiated independently of whether the caregiver's application is open.

Together, these features transform routine check-ins into a more organized process for staying connected and responding to potential concerns.

How We Built It

We built Koode using Flutter, Supabase, and Exotel, combining mobile application development with cloud automation and real-world telephony.

Technology Stack

Technology	How We Used It
Flutter & Dart	Built the Android application, elder interface, and family dashboard
Supabase	Provided authentication, database services, storage, and real-time synchronization
PostgreSQL	Stored elder profiles, check-ins, care plans, questions, and incidents
pg_cron	Scheduled recurring backend tasks
pg_net	Enabled scheduled HTTP requests from PostgreSQL workflows
Supabase Edge Functions	Handled call initiation, scheduled execution, and telephony webhook processing
Exotel IVR	Connected the backend to cellular phone calls and keypad interactions
Supabase Storage	Stored personalized voice recordings
Supabase Realtime	Synchronized relevant updates with the family dashboard

How the System Works

Our architecture separates the mobile interface from the backend automation, allowing scheduled check-ins to operate without depending on the application remaining open.

1. Scheduling: PostgreSQL and pg_cron manage recurring check-in schedules.
2. Execution: A scheduled workflow invokes a Supabase Edge Function to identify due check-ins.
3. Calling: The backend initiates an outbound call through Exotel.
4. Interaction: The elder answers the call and responds using the phone's dial pad.
5. Processing: Exotel sends call events and responses to the configured webhook.
6. Updating: The backend records the check-in outcome and creates or updates an incident when necessary.
7. Monitoring: Supabase Realtime delivers relevant updates to the family dashboard.

We also developed the Android application as a single installable APK containing both the elder and caregiver experiences, with a role switcher that allows users to move between them.

For demonstrations and testing, the application includes an interactive morning-call simulator alongside the telephony-based workflow.

Challenges We Faced

1. Making Technology Accessible to Elders

One of our biggest design challenges was avoiding the assumption that every user is comfortable with smartphones.

We addressed this by prioritizing large touch targets, high-contrast visuals, minimal navigation, bilingual prompts, and simple interactions. The cellular calling experience further reduces the need for elders to learn a new application.

2. Integrating Real Cellular Calls

Connecting a mobile application to a real telephony provider introduced challenges beyond ordinary API integration.

We had to account for Exotel authentication, regional API endpoints, Indian phone number formatting, account restrictions, and the configuration required for outbound calls and IVR responses.

This taught us the importance of making backend failures visible and distinguishing real telephony operations from simulated interactions.

3. Running Scheduled Tasks Independently of the App

A check-in system is not useful if it only works while the caregiver has the application open.

We moved scheduling into the cloud using PostgreSQL, pg_cron, and Supabase Edge Functions. This separates scheduled execution from the mobile application's lifecycle and provides a foundation for reliable recurring calls.

4. Handling Missed Calls Responsibly

A missed call does not automatically mean an emergency. An elder might be outside, away from the phone, or temporarily unable to answer.

We recognized the need to distinguish unanswered calls from explicit distress responses and confirmed emergencies. Appropriate retries, acknowledgement tracking, escalation timers, and human follow-up are essential to avoid unnecessary panic while ensuring that potential problems are not ignored.

5. Coordinating Multiple System Components

Koode brings together scheduled jobs, telephony APIs, voice recordings, webhooks, database updates, and real-time interfaces.

Ensuring that these components exchange information correctly highlighted the importance of clear data models, consistent incident states, and careful handling of failed requests and repeated events.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

• Designed for real-world accessibility: Created an elder-facing experience that minimizes complicated interactions and supports familiar phone-based communication.
• Integrated cellular telephony: Connected Exotel with Supabase backend workflows to support real outbound calls and keypad-based interactions.
• Built cloud-driven scheduling: Designed recurring check-in workflows that do not depend on the caregiver's mobile application remaining open.
• Personalized family communication: Incorporated voice-recording capabilities so check-in questions can use familiar voices.
• Unified care coordination: Brought check-ins, reminders, shared care notes, and incident tracking into one application.
• Designed a structured response workflow: Created a five-stage incident timeline to make responsibility and follow-up more visible.
• Combined two distinct user experiences: Packaged the elder-facing interface and family dashboard into a single Android application.

What makes us most proud is the purpose behind the project. We are not simply building another health application. We are exploring how familiar technology can help families care for their loved ones more consistently.

What We Learned

Building Koode taught us that solving a meaningful problem requires more than making an application function under ideal conditions.

Technically, we learned how to connect Flutter applications to cloud services, structure relational data in PostgreSQL, automate recurring workflows, integrate external telephony APIs, process webhooks, and synchronize application state through real-time subscriptions.

Working with cellular telephony also helped us understand the difference between a simulated interaction and a real-world communication system, where provider configuration, network failures, account limitations, and call-status handling all matter.

From a product perspective, we learned that accessibility must influence the architecture itself, not just the appearance of the interface. Supporting elders who use basic phones requires different design decisions from building an application intended exclusively for smartphone users.

We also learned that automation must be paired with responsible escalation. A system should communicate uncertainty clearly, distinguish self-reported information from verified outcomes, and keep human caregivers involved in critical decisions.

Most importantly, we learned that technology can support caregiving, but it cannot replace the human attention, compassion, and responsibility that caregiving requires.

What's Next for Koode?

Koode is a foundation for a more comprehensive, accessible, and reliable elderly-care platform.

Our next steps include:

• Improved escalation reliability: Implementing robust retry policies, configurable escalation timers, duplicate-event prevention, and clearer failure reporting.
• Expanded regional-language support: Making voice interactions accessible to more families through Malayalam and other Indian languages.
• Better family coordination: Enabling multiple authorized caregivers to acknowledge alerts, coordinate visits, and record follow-up actions.
• Enhanced care insights: Developing meaningful summaries of check-in history and recurring reported concerns.
• Medication adherence support: Improving reminders and follow-up questions while clearly distinguishing self-reported adherence from verified medication intake.
• Stronger privacy and security: Improving consent management, role-based access, credential protection, and secure webhook verification.
• Optional health integrations: Exploring suitable wearable devices and health-monitoring systems where they offer practical value.
• Real-world validation: Testing with elders and caregivers to refine call timing, voice prompts, accessibility, and escalation workflows.

Our long-term vision is to make reliable elderly care more accessible to families regardless of geographical distance, technological familiarity, or internet availability.

We want Koode to become a dependable connection between everyday life and the people who care about it most.

---

Koode: Care Beyond Distance, Connected by a Call.

Because sometimes, staying beside someone begins with a simple question:

"സുഖമാണോ?"
"Are you doing well?"

Built With

• accessibility
• aging-in-place
• artificial-intelligence
• assistive-technology
• automation
• cloud-computing
• dart
• digital-health
• elderly-care
• emergency-response
• exotel
• family-caregiving
• flutter
• healthcare
• internet-of-things
• ivr
• malayalam
• mobile-app-development
• postgresql
• real-time-systems
• remote-monitoring
• social-impact
• supabase
• telephony