understand.me

Where understanding begins. An AI mediator that guides you through disagreements. It facilitates fair, empathetic conversations, helping you hear and be heard to find a path forward, together.

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Inspiration

In my family, I've always been the one people call "their heart"—the person who tries to bridge gaps and bring everyone together. But despite my best efforts, I've seen how deeply misunderstandings can separate people, even cutting me off from those I love. This project was born from a deeply personal place, initially conceived as a way to help fix things and communicate better with my girlfriend, Juanita. Sadly, our relationship ended before I could finish it for us. That loss transformed my motivation. I decided to build "Understand-me" not just for myself, but for anyone who has ever felt the pain of being misunderstood, hoping it could be the help for others that I wished I'd had.

What it does

"Understand-me" is a voice-first, AI-mediated conflict resolution app. It acts as an impartial guide, facilitating difficult conversations through a structured, five-phase process. Users interact with an empathetic AI mediator primarily by speaking. The AI manages turn-taking, analyzes the emotional tone of the conversation using Hume AI, and helps users articulate their feelings, hear each other out, and collaboratively find a path forward. It's a private, accessible space designed to turn conflict into clarity and, ultimately, understanding.

How we built it

This project was a partnership between human experience and a sophisticated AI stack, planned and architected with the help of models like Google Gemini and GPT-o3.

  • Frontend: We used Expo (React Native) to build a high-performance, cross-platform native app for iOS and Android.
  • Backend & Orchestration: The core logic is handled by an Express.js backend. The Vercel AI SDK is the "brain," orchestrating all AI interactions, managing conversational context, and using its "Tools" feature to call other services.
  • AI Services:
    • ElevenLabs powers the entire voice experience, providing the natural-sounding AI voice and managing the real-time, turn-taking conversation.
    • Hume AI provides the crucial layer of emotional intelligence, analyzing vocal tone to give the mediator true empathy.
    • Supabase serves as our robust data layer for user authentication, database storage, and real-time communication to keep sessions in sync.

Challenges we ran into

This project was a sprint against time and unforeseen circumstances.

  • The Human Element: The biggest challenge was personal. Starting this project on the 28th, I was racing against the clock with a heavy heart. Beforer we began, most of my team and I fell sick, which significantly impacted our momentum and ability to collaborate effectively. Pushing through illness while working on such an emotionally charged project was incredibly difficult.
  • Technical Complexity: Integrating multiple, cutting-edge AI services in real-time is a massive undertaking. Ensuring the turn-taking logic from ElevenLabs, the emotional analysis from Hume, and the contextual reasoning from the Vercel AI SDK all worked together seamlessly was a significant architectural challenge.
  • Translating Emotion to Logic: The core task of modeling the nuances of human conflict—the interruptions, the emotional spikes, the non-linear flow—into a system that an AI can facilitate was a constant puzzle.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Despite the immense personal and logistical challenges, I'm incredibly proud of creating a functional prototype that demonstrates the core vision. Building a system where an AI can not only understand words but also react to the emotion behind them feels like a genuine step forward in human-centric technology. To have architected a platform this complex in such a short and difficult time is an accomplishment in itself. Most importantly, I'm proud to have transformed a personal struggle into something that has the potential to help others.

What we learned

This project was a profound lesson in resilience and the power of purpose. I learned that even when facing personal hardship and sickness, a clear and meaningful mission can provide the drive to keep building. Technically, I learned how to architect a complex, real-time AI system, orchestrating multiple APIs to create a single, coherent user experience. I also learned that the most powerful AI isn't one that replaces human connection, but one that is carefully designed to facilitate it.

What's next for Understand-me

The journey for "Understand-me" is just beginning. The next steps are focused on refinement and expansion:

  1. Refining the AI Mediator: Continuously improve the AI's conversational prompts and its ability to handle more complex and nuanced emotional scenarios.
  2. Building the "Growth Tab": Implement the long-term vision of providing users with personalized insights into their communication patterns to help them grow over time.
  3. User Testing & Feedback: Get the app into the hands of real users to gather feedback and iteratively improve the experience.
  4. Expanding Features: Introduce features like session summaries, digital sign-offs on agreements, and a library of resources for better communication.

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