Inspiration
Did you know that 32.1% of the Costa Rican population suffers from some serious affectation on an emotional level? And while it may not seem like half the population or higher, they are just the most severe. The truth is that it is a rising number. With the pandemic, cases of anxiety, stress, depression, the inability to express emotions and other problems related to mental health have increased. Where the worst cases end in drugs, suicides, self-medication, etc. The first step in combating these harmful emotions is to seek help from a professional in psychology, counseling, or a specialist in mental issues. And as you can see the prices are very high and not very accessible for many people. I've experienced it myself, my friends and family. It's super sad to see my friends lost in their emotions, with no purpose or inspiration.
What it does
That is why Meni is going to be on the first line of help, being a robot with programming designed to detect emotions through text and images of the users' faces. Providing an answer or activity to be done. Located in a place as crowded and accessible as the bus stops. The answers can range from assembling a puzzle, telling a joke, suggesting help or recreation centers, playing music... Meni attacks the problem from the first interaction and provides a follow-up of the cases (routing them with professional help).
How i built it
I use JavaScript and css to programming Meni.
Challenges we ran into
Some similar services are: The Ministry of Public Education of Costa Rica has a project called "Here I am" where through telephone lines and messaging they provide help to students and parents in matters of psychology, questions, complaints. There is also a very detailed guide on how technology can be implemented in mental health issues.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
1.The goal of this project is put mental health of every person (especily teenegers)is first plane. 2.Meni is a robot for bus stops where users can interact, ask questions, ask for help or receive entertainment. Interaction provides motivation,reflexion, inspiration and distraction from waiting, sadness and loneliness moments.
- Meni was created thanks to the MagIA Juvenil project of the company Intevolution, sponsored by Microsoft. Personally, it helped me a lot by learning to coding, knowing the uses of artificial intelligence and challenging myself with the proposal of creating a social impact project for my community, and of course with technological tools and Artificial Intelligence.
What i learned
-Other challeges was the fact that i actually did not know something about mental issues and mental health, but i learn, read and ask a lot during the process of create Meni. -I learned to program with javascript, css and implement Microsoft AI in solutions for daily life.
What's next for Meni
At the moment Meni is just an idea, a dream, a goal. Here I am going to show only a prototype of the project. So the opportunities and competitive advantages are several, for example: -Technological Service (AI) -Help and resources available to everyone -Support Opportunities -Innovation (Meni the robot) -Progress and security (curiosity about new technologies) -Opportunity to grow and evolve
Also Meni can be implemented in schools, high schools, colleges or offices with different opportunities, for example.
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