Super Aid

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Inspiration

Everyone wants to be a hero but we rarely find the opportunity in our lives. So, we decided to give the community a chance to become a hero with Super Aid!

What it does

This app is intended to be a quick response to anyone's emergency, from a flat tire to a more serious health issue. Whenever someone requests help, nearby (10 min radius) volunteers will be notified and given the address of the emergency to assist you or someone else in need faster and earlier than first responders.

How we built it

We used a very unconventional software to build our application, a game engine: Unity. We chose this as we had only made video games before and this was our first application. Unity also has very powerful UI and multiplatform capabilities, paired with a familiar and easier-to-use coding language, C#. For our backend, we mainly used Firebase Authentication (Sign up, Log in, Password Reset) and Firebase Realtime Database (Storing user data but also detecting changes in real-time with listeners). We also used other APIs such as Google Distance Matrix (for distance between 2 points, both in length and time), Google Directions (for directions from origin to destination), and Unity Location Services (to find the user/devices's location). We used Trello to keep track of our progress, meet goals, and complete our project on time.

Challenges we ran into

Our team's biggest problem was learning the majority of the backend logic required for the application. Our team had minimal experience with any database or server. After shortlisting some potential databases we could learn about in the next 36 hours, we decided to use Google's Firebase because of its countless features and easy usability. We overcame our biggest challenge by simply reading as much of the documentation as possible and through multiple cycles of trial and error.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

For starters, we're simply proud of the fact that our team was able to develop our very own application for the first time. We're proud of the dedication that every member of the team gave to complete this project. Moreover, we are amazed by the unconventional methods - using Unity to make an app - that we used to lay the foundation of our project.

What we learned

Apart from having a cup of coffee nearby at all times, the biggest thing that we learned was to manage our time and create a schedule before starting the project. Had we created a schedule beforehand, we could've spent fewer sleepless nights and had more energy throughout the day to work more efficiently.

What's next for Super Aid

We hope to develop this app further by integrating key features such as chat messaging, SMS notifications, specialized roles, and more detailed descriptions of emergencies. We can also potentially partner with local first responders and departments for a safer and super community.