Test_123

Inspiration

According to World Health Organization, half of all mental health conditions start by 14 years of age but most cases are undetected and untreated. Globally, depression is one of the leading causes of illness and disability among adolescents.

Today, children are living in unprecedented times. The impact of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, racial inequalities, disasters like the raging fires in California, the impact of climate change - all put a huge psychological burden on students like us.

In addition, due to the lockdown, children don’t have the opportunity to play sports, hang out with friends, meet their grandparents/relatives and that is not even the tip of the iceberg. With the added stress from virtual learning, things can be very stressful for Gen-Z kids.

The Journal of Medical Internet Research states that virtual emotional assistants have a high potential to improve mental health.

We created Luna to be a companion in these challenging times to help kids socially and emotionally navigate these difficult times. Luna will provide a private, non-judgmental environment for children to process their feelings and manage them.

What it does

Luna is an emotional wellness assistant that talks to kids about their feelings. Sometimes children don’t feel comfortable talking about their feelings with adults. Luna encourages social-emotional learning by helping kids manage their feelings. First, Luna will ask the user how they are feeling. The user can choose from a set of feelings like happy, sad, and anxious. Sometimes children may not be able to express how they are feeling. In this case, they can choose the option "I am not sure how I feel" and take the PHQ-9 Survey. If the user chooses this option Luna will ask a set of questions to determine how the user is feeling.

Once Luna recognizes how the user is feeling, it will guide the user through a set of research-backed activities such as deep breathing, visualization, gratitude journaling, and aerobic exercise.

If the user is feeling happy, then Luna will encourage the user to engage in gratitude journaling.

If the user is feeling sad, then Luna will encourage the users to journal their thoughts. After this, Luna uses visualization to encourage the user to take a 1-minute virtual vacation to the beach. If the user does not feel better, then Luna guides them through deep breathing exercises. If the user is still not feeling better, Luna will suggest gratitude journaling. If all approaches do not work, then Luna will encourage users to talk to the guidance counselor or their teacher for help.

If the user is feeling anxious, Luna will encourage the users to journal their thoughts. Then, Luna will guide users through an easy 1-minute workout. If the user does not feel better, Luna will lighten the mood with some jokes. If all approaches do not work, then the Luna will encourage users to talk to the guidance counselor or their teacher for help.

How we built it

We built Live with Luna (the app) using Outsystems, a platform which creates progressive web apps. Within Outsystems, we used buttons, icons, and chat-like messages to make the app interface user friendly. We created images of Luna by first creating a model using Paint 3D, Unity, and Vroid Studios. After creating a model, we recorded the model using Bandicam. Next, we used Ezgif and Kawping to crop and trim the video. Finally, we turned the video into a gif using Giphy and imported the gifs into Outsystems. We also created our own youtube videos for deep breathing, visualization, and aerobic activity. Our videos are less than one minute in length and are kid-friendly.

So in total, we built Luna using Kawping, Unity, Paint 3D, Photos, Bandicut, UnityHub, Visual Studios, Vroid Studios, Ezgif, Giphy, Bandicam, Youtube, Powtoons, and Outsystems.

Challenges we ran into

Since this was our first time entering a hackathon, we didn't know which platform to use to create our app. Originally, we were planning on using repl.it to launch Live with Luna. However, due to our lack of experience with html and css and lack of knowledge on how to implement the message-like features in repl.it, we decided to launch Live with Luna in Outsystems. We had previous experience using Outsystems and were therefore able to create a user-friendly progressive web app. We were also originally using ezgif to crop our videos. However, due to unforeseen errors, we had to switch to using Kawping to crop our videos instead.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

My sister and I are proud that we had managed to successfully create a progressive web app within the span of one day. We are also pleased that we were able to exceed our own expectations for Luna's character design. We believe our app is a valuable contribution to improve emotional hygiene and support kids through these difficult times. Finally, we are both overjoyed that we were able to overcome all the errors and obstacles that we faced while creating an app that we were proud to call our own.

What we learned

Through the MakeSPP hackathon, my sister and I learned how to create a website on repl.it, how to manage our time, how to create and animate 3D characters, the importance of hard work, and the importance of teamwork.

What's next for Live with Luna

In Live with Luna 2.0, we want to use machine learning and artificial intelligence to tailor both the conversation and activities to suit each user. We will use speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs to allow users to talk using natural language.

Built With

• outsystems
• vroid-studios