Inspiration
We were inspired by the friendly and supportive nature of otters. We wanted to bring that same characteristic into the lives of people that need it most. While volunteering at the hospital in the resource center, I noticed a lot of patients would come in asking for support groups. The options we had were rather limited and with technology we knew we could expand this service for patients.
What it does
It connects patients around the nation together to gain knowledge on their medical condition. Also, it builds a community of support for those who struggle with the condition. It relieves stress in healthcare staff knowing that their patient will get to continue their patient care after they leave the hospital or clinic. You might be wondering, why can’t the patients just use any group chat platform? Simply put, other group chat platforms are not exclusive, meaning anyone can join a chat and spew incorrect or inappropriate information. Our app allows for doctors to refer patients to a specific chat through a QR code to ensure only patients with the condition are allowed to join. In addition, some group chat platforms are saturated with many topics, whereas our app solely focuses on the health sector. Even more, this app ensures valid health recommendations by giving Doctors access to edit the doctor’s note tab in each group chat with the most useful and relevant information. This app also ensures privacy by assigning every user a random otter username with a corresponding icon.
How we built it
We started Otters with a simple idea: “We can help patients by creating a support group… but online”.
Once we had our goal, we began to brainstorm all the features we would like to see in our idea.
Next, we used a collaborative drawing app on the iPad to sketch our first draft of what our vision for the app was.
Afterwards, we created a second draft on Figma to get a more refined idea of the product.
Once we had mapped at every feature, idea, and visual component we wanted, we began learning the technology we would need to create everything: Adobe Illustrator for Art, Swift to create the app, and Azure Communication Service for the chat service.
We learned how to utilize documentation and Youtube videos to learn what we needed, and used our knowledge to bring our idea to real life.
Challenges we ran into
Adobe Illustrator: Since it was my first time using the software, I had to watch a lot of tutorials on how to use Adobe Illustrator. It was frustrating at first when I realized the pen tool did not function like a regular pen. The first icon I made for the project ended up taking me a couple hours.
Azure Chat Bot: I was happy to be able to create a working chatbot quickly using the Azure Bot Framework and Language Studio, but I struggled to integrate it with the app via REST API’s. I did learn how to use POST and GET requests through the process but I kept getting “no conversationID found” for my requests and ran out of time to finish the feature.
Azure Communication Service: I originally opted to use Google’s Firebase service for the chat feature, but wanted to learn a new service so I explored the documentation for Azure’s chat service. It was difficult to learn something so advanced in such a short amount of time but I was able to read the documentation step by step to understand how it worked and successfully implemented it.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are proud that we were able to learn so many new technologies, especially the Azure services and Adobe Illustrator, and to implement everything we learned into a cool product.
We are proud of our final product and the possible impact it can have on patients!
What we learned
We learned how to use some platforms for the first time. This includes Adobe Illustrator and Microsoft Azure Communication Services and Azure bot services, and how REST APIs work.
What's next for Otters: Support Group App
We decided to immerse our app into the Azure ecosystem since it gives us the possibility to tap into other Azure services. There are so many more services we could have used but weren’t able to implement given the time constraint, but we’d like to tell you some of our best ideas for possible implementation.
We could have used Azure’s cognitive service to translate messages so we can reduce the language barrier between patients. Therefore, Otters could impact a more global audience and allows our app to support patients of all backgrounds regardless of the language they speak.
With the help of Azure’s countless services, we could further support patients. For example, the chatbot could provide a 24/7 support service whether it be for comfort or just to have someone listen. For instance, the chatbot could be someone the patient can vent to.
We could also implement a content moderation service which allows for an even safer space for only accurate and relevant information. This would ensure that patients do not see content that may be upsetting or offensive.
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