MediPlain

Snap a photo of any medicine label and instantly understand what it does, its side effects, dosage, and what to avoid — powered by AI.

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Inspiration

Millions of people receive prescriptions every day but struggle to understand what their medicine actually does. Medical labels are filled with technical jargon that most patients can't read or understand. We wanted to fix that — make medicine information accessible to everyone, instantly.

What it does

MediPlain lets users understand any medicine in three ways:

  • 📷 Camera — snap a photo of the medicine label and get an instant explanation
  • 🎤 Speak — say the medicine name out loud
  • ⌨️ Type — manually enter the medicine name

Within seconds, MediPlain explains what the medicine is for, common side effects, typical dosage, what to avoid, and when to see a doctor — all in plain, simple language anyone can understand.

How we built it

  • Frontend — HTML, CSS, JavaScript (mobile-first design)
  • Camera/OCR — Tesseract.js for reading medicine labels from photos
  • Voice — Web Speech API for speech-to-text
  • AI — ASI:One API for intelligent medicine explanations
  • Backend — Python Flask API to securely handle ASI:One calls
  • Deployment — Render.com for hosting

Challenges we ran into

  • Getting OCR to accurately read medicine labels from real-world photos
  • Making the camera open directly on mobile browsers
  • Handling raw OCR text and letting AI intelligently identify the medicine name
  • Securing the API key using a backend instead of exposing it in the frontend

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  • Built a fully working mobile-friendly app in under 24 hours
  • Successfully reading real medicine labels with OCR and explaining them with AI
  • Three input methods all feeding into one seamless experience
  • Clean, professional UI that works great on mobile

What we learned

  • How to integrate OCR (Tesseract.js) directly in the browser
  • How to build and secure a Flask backend for API calls
  • How to use ASI:One API for intelligent text understanding
  • How to design genuinely mobile-first web apps

What's next for MediPlain

  • Support for multiple languages (Tamil, Hindi, Telugu) for wider reach in India
  • Drug interaction checker — scan two medicines and check if they're safe together
  • Scan history so users can track their medicines
  • Integration with pharmacy databases for more accurate dosage information
  • Voice output — read the explanation aloud for elderly or visually impaired users

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