The Road to B.E.R.T
The B.E.R.Ts
B.E.R.T Chrome Extension

B.E.R.T Buddy - A reminder to Breathe, Embrace, Relax, and Thrive

Inspiration

In the brainstorming phase of our project, we wanted to find some kind of problem or day-to-day struggle that we could help improve.

We’ve used many wellness apps in the past, but have also experienced some of the unintentional negative impacts they can have. For example, there can be an overemphasis on metrics, where constant reminders of missed goals and incomplete tasks can leave people feeling guilty, overwhelmed and less productive. We’re also familiar with the sheer quantity of information experienced daily on the web, and the challenges associated with taking regular breaks or trying to dedicate time to mindfulness practices.

We wanted to create an assistive companion to support users to meet their goals. It mattered to us for this tool to be simple, inclusive, and completely free!

What it does

B.E.R.T is a web-browsing companion that encourages you to take moments out of your day for your well-being—whether it is a 20-second stretch or a 5-minute meditation.

Bert has (for the moment) three main modes.

Stretch

Stretch is a mode where you can take a moment to move your body and take a break from whatever task you were doing.

Breathe

Breathe is a calm/meditation mode where you can just sit and breathe with your B.E.R.T Buddy. It aims to de-stress and help the user feel more calm and less alone in moments of anxiety.

Focus

Focus is a mode where you can have B.E.R.T with you while you are doing a task, whether it be studying, working or working on a hobby, B.E.R.T is with you focusing on his own work. This is designed to help those who find body-doubling an effective way to complete tasks.

B.E.R.T also has one more section. There is a resources button that links to mental health resources (Australia based for the moment). In the future we hope to expand this to include many more resources to assist users.

How we built it

Wxt was used to create most of the boilerplate and enable us to use other tools and frameworks without worrying about how to integrate it with the limits browsers place on extensions Svelte was used to simplify and accelerate the creation of the user interface since we had a lot of separate components that would quickly turn into an incomprehensible mess without a framework.

Challenges we ran into

We initially had so many features we wanted to add to B.E.R.T, including his own customisable space that would open through a webpage. When implementing this webpage-based approach, we ran into some issues with configuring the permissions required for Chrome extensions.

We then realised that it would be a better idea to use a more traditional popup extension. While this would also require managing the permissions, we were able to leverage the Wxt extension framework which could manage the permissions for us. After simplifying our plans, we realised that the popup system is more suited to the current product! The full-page setup may have felt a bit empty in comparison.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Being able to complete a functioning prototype in such a short time frame was not something we thought we would be able to achieve, as many of us had never done a Hackathon before. We are thrilled that we were able to create our little guy and excited about all the potential good he could do!

What we learned

We very quickly realised the importance of not letting scope get out of hand! We had so many ideas and wanted to add so many things, but we learned the importance of keeping our goals realistic.

We all needed to adjust to new concepts or learn new skills during the hackathon. Most of us haven't done hackathons before so coming up with ideas as a group, agreeing and then working collaboratively on the same topic was new for several of us. We learned a lot about making extensions, using new tools, editing and lots more! We also learned how to manage our time effectively and efficiently and delegate tasks based on each individual's skill sets.

What's next for B.E.R.T

There is so much more we want to do with our little guy. We think he really has an opportunity to help people.

Notifications:

We would like B.E.R.T. to send you reminders when it's time to take a break or have a stretch.

Accessibility:

We want to add accessibility features including alt-text, keyboard navigation, and intuitive sound design.

Personalisation:

We would like users to be able to feel more connected with B.E.R.T, this includes features like being able to nickname him and more.

Rewards:

We want to add in a rewards system - but not one that functions in the traditional rewards system sense. We want to make the smallest of tasks extremely rewarding - it's not about making things hard or challenging for the user - it's about allowing the dopamine hit and the joy from doing your best and getting rewarded from it create habits and positive associations with tasks.

Accounts:

We would like to add some basic accounts, just so users are able to access their B.E.R.T from any device and not lose anything when changing to a new one!

Improved & Expanded Content:

Due to the amount of time we had, we couldn't make all of the features we would've liked to.
Here are some of the features we would like to add in the future!

Breathe
For the meditation/deep breathing section of our extension we would like to add in more varied breathing exercises, helpful messages and other features.

Customise
We would love to add a section called 'Customise" where users can get fun things like backgrounds, items and outfits. This is connected to the Rewards previously mentioned.

More Activities!
The live working copy you have access to has very minimal options in the 'Activity' section. We have so many plans and ideas for all the different ways little B.E.R.T could accompany and assist the users.
Some Examples Include: