Matcher

The pandemic has forced us to become more dependent on the internet and lonelier. Thus, we have developed “Matcher”! Connect with people of similar interests with the help of our AI!

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Inspiration

During these trying times, the pandemic impacted many people by isolating them in their homes. People are not able to socialize like they used to and find people they can relate with. For example, students who are transitioning to college or a new school where they don’t know anyone. Matcher aims to improve students' mental health by matching them with people who share similar interests and allows them to communicate. Overall, its goal is to connect people across the world.

What it does

The user first logs in and answers a series of comprehensive, researched backed questions (AI determined questions) to determine his/her personality type. Then, we use machine learning to match people and connect them. Users can email each other after they are matched!

Our custom Machine Learning algorithm used K-Means Algorithm, and Random Forest to study people's personalities.

How we built it

We used React on the front end, Firebase for authentication and storage, and Python for the server and machine learning.

Challenges we ran into

We all faced unique challenges but losing one member mid way really damped our spirits and limited our potential.

  • Gordon: I was new to firebase and I didn’t follow the right program flow in the first half of the hackathon.
  • Lucia: The challenge I ran into was trying to figure out how to properly route the web pages together on React. Also, how to integrate Firebase database on the Front End since I never used it before.
  • Anindya: Time management.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that we are able to persevere after losing a member but still managing to achieve a lot. We are also proud that we showed resiliency when we realized that we messed up our program flow mid way and had to start over from the beginning. We are happy that we learned and implemented new technologies that we have never used before. Our hard work and perseverance resulted in an app that is useful and will make an impact to people's lives!

What we learned

We believe that what doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.

  • Gordon: After chatting with mentors, I learnt about SWE practises, Firebase flow, and Flask. I also handled setback and failure from wasting 10 hours.
  • Lucia: I learned about Firebase and how to integrate it into React Front End. I also learned more about how to use React Hooks!
  • Anindya: I learned how to study unique properties of data using unsupervised learning methods. Also I learned how to integrate Firebase with Python.

What's next for Matcher

We would like to finish our web app by completing our integration of the Firebase Realtime Database. We plan to add social networking features such as a messaging and video chat feature which allows users to communicate with each other on the web app. This will allow them to discuss their interests with one another right at our site! We would like to make this project accessible to multiple platforms such as mobile as well.

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