GluScale

Gluscale Landing Page
Dashboard
Dragon Collection
Unlock Achievement Message

Inspiration

We were inspired by many of our closest friends and family that we know who have been dealing with diabetes for many years of their life. Even people who have been living with diabetes for a majority of their adult life face challenges everyday so it is extremely daunting for children who have been recently diagnosed at such a young age. A child has to learn to eat the right foods and pay special attention to their energy levels when they should be enjoying childhood. It can be extremely isolating not having people dealing with a similar issue. GluScale aims to help kids understand diabetes, guide them through everyday problems, and enable them to live a more carefree life.

What it does

GluScale aims to be a companion that a child can trust when it comes to living with diabetes. It first surveys the child to learn more about the specifics of their diabetes. Using that knowledge and by connecting to a Continuous Glucose Monitor, GluScale receives real-time glucose readings and can provide feedback. It uses AI to provide easy to understand guidance to a child on what actions they should take. It also encourages children to use the app by gamifying the experience. As they keep their glucose levels on the right track, a dragon egg cracks until it hatches at the end of the day. GluScale encourages children to learn and maintain their blood sugar levels, while creating a fun and helpful experience.

How we built it

GluScale operates with NextJS on the Vercel Platform for deployment, and is built with Typescript and TailwindCSS for the frontend and Node express for the backend, with Node Express executing the Google Gemini and CronJob. In order to ensure security for our users' data, we used Supabase’s authentication method to authenticate users through every step of development, and we used it's integration with Supabase’s realtime database to store user data and other variables that helps GluScale to run. We also used Heroku to run our Node express server 24/7.

Challenges we ran into

Maintaining a high level of teamwork and collaboration despite our wide range of technical experiences, areas of expertise, and during chaotic situations with bugs
Communicating effectively and keeping files clean to avoid merge conflicts and issues with compatibility
Combining graphic designs and animation with tech to problem solve

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Implementing a fully functional database for use
Developing an AI model that rises to the occasion to return child-friendly advice and feedback
Utilizing art and graphic design to develop a concrete solution to a very complex issue
Setting up and accomplishing such a large task in 36 hours

What we learned

Keeping each other accountable and dividing work equally is important for success, especially as a smaller team of 3
Taking time to set deadlines throughout the day and reinforcing a better understanding of tasks to be done goes a long way in the marathon
Planning more features early on to lean back on in order to avoid late altering decisions

What's next for GluScale

Adding achievements to increase interaction, we created functions and a database for this but needed more time to create many badges and banners, leading to more complexity
Creating more varieties of dragons for users to collect and implementing a streak feature for uninterrupted days in a row of using the app