DeadlineRadar

Inspiration

As students ourselves, we know that managing deadlines isn't just about knowing when something is due. We're juggling multiple courses while also balancing work, family responsibilities, appointments, community service, extracurricular activities, and our personal lives.

Our calendars may show every assignment and exam, but that doesn't necessarily mean we have a realistic plan to complete them. Sometimes a deadline sits on the calendar for weeks, but with everything else going on, we don't realize how little time we actually have until the submission date is suddenly right in front of us.

We've experienced this ourselves: multiple assignments and exams landing within the same few days, while other responsibilities compete for the limited hours we have available.

That made us ask a simple question:

What if a calendar could tell you not just when your work is due, but whether you actually have enough time to finish it?

That's what inspired us to build DeadlineRadar, a deadline collision detector and AI-powered workload planner for students.

What it does

DeadlineRadar looks at upcoming assignments, their estimated workload, deadlines, and the amount of study time a student actually has available. It detects when the workload is likely to exceed that available time — warning students about a deadline collision before it happens.

Instead of realizing on Friday that you have a project due Friday, an exam Saturday, and another assignment Monday, DeadlineRadar helps you recognize the problem earlier.

With Google Gemini, we take that analysis one step further by turning the student's workload into a realistic, prioritized preparation plan — answering not only "What do I have due?" but also "What should I work on today?"

How we built it

We built DeadlineRadar around a simple workflow: input → analyze → detect → plan.

Students enter their deadlines, estimated work hours, and available study time. Our application analyzes that information to detect workload collisions, and we integrated the Google Gemini API to transform those results into an actionable study plan.

Challenges we ran into

One of our biggest challenges was defining what a deadline collision actually means. Two assignments due on the same day aren't necessarily a collision if there's enough time to complete them.

We realized that we needed to consider deadlines, workload, and available time together, rather than simply comparing due dates. We also had to figure out how to use Gemini meaningfully instead of adding AI just for the sake of it.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud that we turned a problem we experience ourselves into a working hackathon project.

Rather than building another calendar or to-do list, we created something that asks a different question: Can you realistically complete everything you have coming up with the time you actually have?

We're also proud of integrating Gemini to go beyond detecting the problem and help students figure out what to do next.

What we learned

We learned that deadlines aren't just dates — they're a combination of time available, work required, urgency, and competing responsibilities.

We also learned more about working with the Gemini API, building and connecting different parts of an application, collaborating as a team, and making decisions under the time constraints of a hackathon.

Most importantly, we learned to use AI meaningfully as a debugging tool and solve a specific part of a problem rather than being the entire solution.

What's next for DeadlineRadar

Next, we want to add user authentication so students can save their courses, deadlines, availability, and personalized plans.

We also want to build Smart Sync, allowing DeadlineRadar to connect with tools like Google Calendar and eventually Canvas or Blackboard to automatically pull in assignments, exams, classes, and other commitments.

Finally, we'd like to develop a mobile app where students can check their workload, receive deadline collision alerts, and access their AI-generated plans on the go.

Our goal with DeadlineRadar is simple: help students see overwhelming weeks coming before they become overwhelming.