Inspiration
We wanted to build something that is feasible and allows people to use in real life. After thinking through multiple ideas, we decided on this idea since it would really work for anyone having trouble writing, not just limited to people suffering from neck-down paralysis.
What it does
SpeechWriter essentially writes for its user. The user simply need to attach a pen and open a webpage, and can directly speak. The webpage converts the user's speech to words, which then gets sent to the Arduino on the device, enabling the device to write the user's words. This way, the user will be able to write directly on paper.
How we built it
We coded the Arduino code for an Arduino Uno R3 board, using Claude to troubleshoot it and Google to learn of different libraries that could be used. We then wired stepper motors and a servo onto the Arduino board before, used rubber band to attach a pen and built a framework for it. Finally, we used Claude to help us design a webpage, and we went through it to ensure that the code actually works and connects to the Arduino, bridging both programs together.
Challenges we ran into
The framework was probably the most challenging of them all. The code was pretty straightforward and so was the webpage, as we used AI to help us understand the code and design it. We had limited material and it was really hard for us to position the stepper motors and figure out how to design it without causing things to collide with each other. Furthermore, we had multiple instances in which the stepper motors could not be executed really well, so we had to use code to try and make the stepper motors more effective.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We're just proud that we built an original idea into a physical project. For many of us, it is our first hackathon so we're just proud to be able to try our best and design something.
What we learned
We learned that turning an idea into an actual product is actually really hard. During the ideating process, we had many ideas on how it would look like and everything seemed to be really ideal, but when we were actually building it, it was pretty difficult. Even now, it's not perfect, but we're glad to have a rough prototype.
What's next for SpeechWriter
We're hoping that we could research future implementations on this device. We have a rough idea on what to implement, but if we had a chance, we would hope to put that idea into action.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.