Running Buddy

Gamifying the running experience with XR to improve mental and physical health

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Inspiration

Running is simple. Left foot, right foot, repeat.

You’d think that’d be easy to stick with. But then it’s Week 3 of “trying to get back into it,” and you’re out on the same route, at the same pace, listening to the same playlist. Your legs hurt. Your soul hurts. You start bargaining with yourself around kilometer three:

        “If I just make it to that tree, I can walk the rest of the way, delete Strava, and          pretend this never happened.”

We’ve been there. That’s why we made Running Buddy.

What it does

We asked ourselves: What would it take to make running feel epic?

Answer: AR glasses and Gamification.

Running Buddy is designed for Snap Spectacles, blending augmented reality and conversational AI into a running experience that’s part training tool, part video game (and part therapy session).

Here’s what’s inside:

1. The Ghost Pacer

Challenge your past self. Chase your personal best. Or let your absurdly fit friend send you their route and try not to cry. A ghostly hologram runs beside you, matching your target pace. “Are you winning, ghost?”

2. The Route Whisperer

No more getting lost or staring at your phone mid-run like it’s a sacred map. AR markers light up your path in real-time — like a breadcrumb trail designed by Tony Stark. Bonus: It once saved a beta tester from running directly into a fountain. You’re welcome, Josh.

3. The Bear 🐻(a.k.a. Gamification)

Some days, you need soft encouragement. Other days, you need to be terrified into sprinting. Our Bear Mode lets you simulate being chased — by bears, zombies, tax collectors, whatever gets the legs moving. (We’re working on a “Chased by Regret” mode for 2 a.m. runs.) Fun fact: Fear-based cardio is wildly effective, according to no peer-reviewed studies but a lot of screaming.

4. The AI Trainer (aka Your Personal Running Therapist)

Need someone to hype you up? Push you harder? Listen to your breakup rant while tracking your split times? Your Running Buddy can do all that — powered by GPT, voice recognition, and a deep understanding of human emotions… and carbs.

You choose the vibe:

  • Chill Supportive Pal

  • Drill Sergeant Who Swears

  • Philosophical AI Who Asks, “What is pace, really?”

How we built it

After the ideation stage, the first step we took is making a user flow- so that we can better understand the entire user experience of Running Buddy from start to finish. Flowchart

One of our favorite fictional characters is Naruto. We wanted to run with him- Meshy was used to accomplish this. After a few prompts, Naruto was generated- with 16 animations of movements such as standing, waving, or bowing. The .fbx files were imported into Lens Studio. After putting on Spectacles headset- Naruto is here, ready to run with you!

Looking through samples from Snapchat/Spectacles-Sample GitHub repository, we discovered some samples that contain similar features with our applications, particularly Path Pioneer and Outdoor Navigation. Looking at their Lens Studio implementation and TypeScript and learning from online resources such as Snap for Developers, we were able to let Naruto run following a certain path while adjusting his velocity and orientation. We also created interactive features such as a leader board, which tells about your performance compare to yourself and other Running Buddy users.

Challenges we ran into

One of the biggest challenges we ran into is that we were not familiar with Lens Studio and how we can add interactive displays like a leader board or a selection menu. Another challenge is trying to make the running mate character move following a desired path. But we were able to figure these out!

There are quite some ideas we wanted to implement but didn't have enough time, such as how to utilize GPS tracking to let the running mate move to different locations and how to connect Running Buddy online with friends on Snap Chat.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we are able to make a animated Naruto character doing different movements such as running and waving. And we are able to let it run following a certain path from a start point and an end point.

We're also proud that we've gained a lot of knowledge of the usage of Lens Studio and Type Script after we looked at the Snapchat/Spectacles-Sample GitHub repository and different samples' implementations in Lens Studio.

What we learned

We learned so much from this Hackathon about the process of making an entire XR application from front-end to back-end. We also gained a much better understanding of implementing Copilot when writing TypeScript files for Lens Studio and utilizing Gemini API to create a project website.

What's next for Running Buddy

  • Utilize Gen AI for chatting with the running mate. The running mate will encourage you when you're running slow and recognize you when you're performing well. The running mate could also be a friend who chats with you while running.
  • GPS tracking of the user and implementing a real-life mapping system to let the user select different running route.

  • Leaderboards, because nothing motivates like social comparison.

  • Custom obstacles and missions

  • Multiplayer runs — race your friends, your enemies, your boss who thinks you’re slow.

  • And more AI personalities who encourages you when you're running slow and recognizes you when you're performing well. The AI personality could even chat with you (coming soon: “Therapist Who Runs marathons”).

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