VERA Companion

Inspiration

VERA Companion was inspired by my experience travelling home alone after late medical shifts in New York City. I often used public transportation between Manhattan and Queens and did not always feel safe walking or waiting alone.

I wanted to create the tool I wished I had: a discreet safety companion that helps a woman feel supported before a situation becomes an emergency.

What it does

VERA Companion is a Gemini-powered personal safety app for women walking home alone, commuting, or finishing late shifts.

The prototype includes SOS activation, trusted contacts, Safe Walk and ETA tracking, a fake-call option, emergency evidence capture, and AI-generated emergency summaries. Gemini helps turn information captured during an SOS event into a clear, structured report that can be shared with trusted contacts.

How we built it

We built VERA Companion with the Gemini API and Firebase.

Firebase Authentication manages secure sign-in, while Cloud Firestore stores user profiles, trusted contacts, location-related safety data, and emergency reports. The Gemini API makes an LLM call to analyze the available SOS details and return a structured emergency summary, helping users communicate relevant information quickly during a stressful moment.

We also built an interactive prototype flow for companion calls, escalation, and alarms.

Challenges we ran into

A safety product must be reliable, private, and simple under stress. We had to consider user consent, location privacy, secure data storage, battery use, and how to avoid overwhelming someone who needs help quickly.

We also set clear limits for AI. Gemini can organize information and create a helpful summary, but it should support the user—not replace emergency services or make high-stakes decisions independently.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud that VERA is a working prototype, not only an idea. We implemented authentication, trusted contacts, SOS and safety-report flows, and Gemini-powered emergency summaries.

We are especially proud of using Gemini for a meaningful real-world purpose: reducing the effort required to communicate clearly when someone is afraid, rushed, or unable to explain everything.

What we learned

We learned that the best safety technology should feel calm and human, not complicated. In a stressful moment, people need a fast path to support.

We also learned that trust, privacy, and real user feedback matter as much as the AI. Gemini is most useful here when it helps transform fragmented information into something clear and actionable for a trusted person.

What's next for VERA Companion

Next, we will test VERA with women who work or travel late, including nurses, bartenders, students, and commuters. We will improve trusted-contact notifications by including relevant location details and Gemini-generated summaries.

Longer term, we will explore wearable integration, two-way voice support, and collaboration with personal-safety and domestic-violence experts. Our goal is for VERA to become a trusted Gemini-powered companion that helps women feel safer before an emergency happens.

Built With

• artificial-intelligence
• cloud-firestore
• emergency-alerts
• firebase
• firebase-authentication
• gemini
• gemini-api
• generative-ai
• google-ai
• google-cloud
• gps
• javascript
• mobile-app
• personal-safety
• privacy
• security
• sos
• trusted-contacts
• web-app
• women-safety