Wildcat Protection System

Colleges are often hot spots for predators to target vulnerable students. I created an app to call emergency services and create a disruption to either scare off or aid the capture of these predators.

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Inspiration

My Inspiration for this app was the fear many women have of being alone at night due to the prevalence of sexual assaults. I had no idea the extent to which women are sexually assaulted and the fear most women go through as a result of this till I researched the topic as apart of a school assignment. I was shocked to find that only about 33.4% of all rapists are ever convicted. When in class, I asked people to raise their hands if they lived in fear of being assaulted sexually. Almost all of the girls raised their hands. Something had to change. So, when I came to this competition, I thought it would be a great time to workshop a potential solution or treatment for this problem. That's why I decided to create an app aimed at protecting people from sexual assault.

What it does

My app allows college students to quickly call emergency services, create flashing lights, and play loud noises in one tap. However, due to technical constraints that will be explained later, the current implementation only allows for quick and easy calling of emergency services. Currently, I have it set to call a random number instead of 911 because I was worried about people calling 911 excessively when I demo it. It will call 911 if I release it.

How we built it

I used React Native, a framework built by Facebook, and Expo, a tool for running apps built with react without paying for IOS developer permissions.

Challenges we ran into

The only computer I had for this entire weekend was a chrome book with no capability to install or run programs. So, I had to do everything using online IDE's or frameworks like Expo's "snack" feature. It allows users to create short React Native programs over the internet and provides a qr code that can be used to run said programs through expo on any mobile device. In addition, I had no knowledge of React Native prior to coming to Hack K-State, so I had to learn it completely from scratch.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I learned React Native completely from scratch. I (partly) solved a real world problem using programming (or at least a band-aid for a real world problem). I built a mobile app, something I had no idea of how to do hours before Hack K-State.

What we learned

I learned how to use React Native and how to use Expo. In addition, I learned how to solve real-world problems using programming as well as how to tailor a program to be more accessible to all, something I didn't notice until now.

What's next for Wildcat Protection System

I intend to expand the features when I return home and gain access to a computer capable of downloading and running software. In addition, I will propose my solution (once it reaches a certain level of polish) to colleges around me in the hope that they will adopt it to protect their students.

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