RethinkInk

Over 44.8% of students still prefer to use and write physical notes. Instead of forcing change we give them the best of both worlds. RethinkInk is a simple tool to store and summarise physical notes.

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Inspiration

Transitioning into university brought unexpected challenges—one of the biggest being the shift from handwritten notes to fully digital materials. While accessing digital resources was manageable, learning without physically writing notes was frustrating. This became especially apparent during exams, where digital cheat sheets could preserve clarity while saving space, but felt less natural to create. This gap inspired us to rethink how handwritten learning could coexist with digital convenience.

What It Does

RethinkInk converts handwritten physical notes into digital notes, with added features like automatic summarization and translation to enhance learning efficiency.

How We Built It

We began by learning the fundamentals of JavaScript and HTML through online resources. We integrated Supabase to handle user authentication and built the backend to connect Python-based processing with the web interface, enabling note conversion and AI-powered features.

Challenges We Ran Into

We faced significant time constraints due to heavy school workloads while simultaneously learning new web technologies. Integrating Supabase and connecting Python with JavaScript posed technical challenges, especially within the limited development timeframe.

Accomplishments We’re Proud Of

Despite the tight schedule, we successfully built a clean and user-friendly website that directly addresses the problem. Delivering a functional prototype under pressure was a major achievement for our team.

What We Learned

We learned how to integrate Google APIs for translation and summarization, along with gaining hands-on experience in full-stack web development and authentication systems.

What’s Next for RethinkInk

We plan to expand RethinkInk with new features:

Subject Folders and Smart Sorting Users will be able to organize notes into subject-specific folders. An optional AI-based sorting feature will automatically classify new notes into the most relevant folder.

Visual Summary Generation Notes can be transformed into visual templates (such as diagrams, mind maps, or structured summaries) to present information in a more engaging and intuitive format.

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