Inspiration
Remember when you noticed a tiny plaque on a random building and realised Churchill once lived there. Or that perfect little wine bar you stumbled into with your partner on a rainy Tuesday? Or the time you stumbled across a street performer on the South Bank and ended up watching for 20 minutes Those moments make cities unforgettable. But why can’t we have that feeling anytime we want? Sure, we have city guides and walking tours. But they’re generic and expensive. They run at fixed times and fixed places. What’s missing is a way to just walk, wonder, and hear something magical. That’s exactly where Wanderly comes in.
What it does
Wanderly is your personal AI voice tour guide, one you can walk with, talk to, and learn from.
- Choose a persona: A spooky narrator, a romantic poet, a witty historian
- Pick a theme: Mystery, Hidden History, Food, and more
- Start walking: Wanderly guides you on a curated path, telling immersive stories at each stop
- Talk to it: Ask follow-up questions or get quizzed during the tour
- Share: Save, like, and share your favourite walks with friends
We designed four screens:
- Tour Setup (select guide, theme, duration)
- Preview Screen (see the map, stops, timing)
- Live Tour Screen (progress, voice, interaction)
- Discover Tours by Friends
How we built it
Frontend: HTML, CSS, Javascript Voice Layer: Eleven Labs conversation SDK Map Integration: OpenStreet Maps Backend: Python
Challenges we ran into
Balancing Personality Design: We didn’t want this to feel like a boring lecture or robotic GPS voice. But giving the AI a distinctive, immersive tone without overdoing it was tricky. Adding real personality to the guides (mystery vs history vs food) required careful scripting and testing.
Simulating AI Interaction: We wanted the AI to feel alive—answer questions, quiz the user, and guide the pace—but that introduced friction. Too much back-and-forth broke immersion; too little made it dull. We also had to balance voice timing, interaction flow, and visual sync within a short hackathon window.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Creating an AI-guided voice tour demo that feels genuinely fun and usable
- Designing distinct guide personalities that enhance, not distract from the experience
What we learned
- Voice-first experiences require a totally different design mindset - pacing, tone, and flow all matter
- Simplicity wins, even in an AI-powered product, what not to include is as important as what to build.
- Product-first thinking to understand various use cases, what to prioritise and scalability
What's next for Wanderly
- Community features: Create and share your own themed tours
- Partnerships: Integrate with museums, cities, and tourism orgs
- Theme expansion: From haunted walks and queer history to music scenes and literary trails
