Inspiration
Many of our friends struggle silently through mental health issues, and the talk on loneliness inspired us to create a companion to encourage them to get more out of their daily lives. One of the most significant problems we face we face with mental health is that many silently struggle through. We wanted to build something that would contact you throughout the day and provide helpful suggestions and motivations.
What it does
A user signs up and will receive daily motivational quotes. They will also sometimes receive challenges. These challenges are to encourage the user to go out and do something in their day.
How do I try it out?
Text your name to +447400366847
How we built it
We are using Twilio to send the text messages with a Python Flask backend hosted on Heroku. We are also using GitHub with GitHub Actions to build, test and deploy the application. The text messages are triggered using a cron job.
Challenges I ran into
Not all members of the team had built and deployed web applications before.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
We worked well as a team coming up with the idea. We also pair programmed to build and test the features.
What I learned
Making an application is easy but building an app that will help people is. Once we had the idea, the app came together quickly.
What's next for SMS Buddy
We want to pitch our idea to charities, getting suggestions on improvements and receive some funding to continue the service. We believe that this can help many people currently suffering. Everyone has a phone so that the companion can reach everyone.
Feature functionality may include AI-driven sentiment analysis of users responses to gauge sentiment. Users who are very vulnerable and in need of some one to talk to could be passed onto the Samaritans charity.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.