Sunbeam

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  User Interface

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  Sunbeam Logo

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  UI_Icons&Buttons

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  Button Menu

Inspiration

As we gather for Reality Hack this week, dreaming of humans dreaming of machines, the world never stops moving. Even as these words are written, people’s sense of belonging, stability, and possibility has become an unresolved question. Ironically while we “dream” new realities through technology, the idea of the American Dream feels suspended-becoming less of a promise, but a fragile mirage. It sharply reminds us that dreams are not visions for the future, but the present-taking its shape quietly, moment by moment. Built on Snap Spectacles, our app helps individuals to illuminate nearby moments of care and connection.

What it does

Sunbeam is a stealth AR toolkit that maps community activity and potential hazards. Like tufts of grass emerging from dense urban surfaces, it pins icons at locations of concern or significance-ranging from unsafe situation to community gatherings. Through AR, approaching users can see these markers and make informed decisions, and access a brief script outlining their constitutional rights if apprehended, fostering a quiet, shared root like network for communities and offering safety nets for those most vulnerable.

How we built it

We created Sunbeam for the Snapchat Spectacles, utilizing Lens Studio and Typescript as the sole programming language. Our sole developer Jordan was not familiar with the Snapchat Spectacles hardware, Lens Studio, or Typescript, so there were a lot of development hurdles to overcome, but we were very pleased with the prototype we were able to create over the hackathon's duration. The core technical achievement of the app is the utilization of Supabase for uploading, updating, and retrieving records of local incidents in a user's area in real-time. We were also pleased by the UI interactions for the map and 2D/3D markers. On a side note, we were also pleased that we were able to avoid using AI-assisted coding almost entirely during this hackathon in order to increase the learning experience and force us to dive deep into understanding Lens Studio and Typescript to continue development.

Challenges we ran into

Making Sunbeam felt like we were balancing a political tightrope, of what could be frankly said at this in-person hackathon, and what needed to be more intentionally worded for this Devpost. Considering current realities, there is a very real fear of personal risk and high stakes for team members and hackers alike at this event. In fact, this answer itself has been carefully crafted to keep our team members safe.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re most proud of finding our people. Our team identified a strong cause and concept on the very first night, which all of our team members deeply aligned with. These shared core values and purpose allowed us to move quickly to develop the features and functionalities, and assign roles and responsibilities. We’re thankful for the respect and support our team members showed each other throughout the entire hack, no arguments - just collaboration, consideration, and care every day. We’re also proud of the visual approach we created - to make the app more accessible, we leaned into universal design language that feels visually intuitive. Also, our designers integrated Snapchat’s iconic Digital Yellow and the user demographic’s love of using emojis as motifs. While keeping Sunbeam’s core imagery of warm & light, they were able to come up with styles that could easily assimilate with Snapchat’s iconography.

What we learned

From a technical standpoint, we learned a lot about developing for Lens Studio, the capabilities of Snapchat Spectacles, and the ease of using Supabase for storing data for Spectacles-based experiences. Despite the initial hardware limitations (narrow FOV, small battery life), Snapchat Spectacles proved itself perfect for our project's use-case and has expanded our understanding of how the right project married to the right hardware can overcome these limitations. As a team, we also collectively learned how to tailor tech and visuals to be more user friendly. This project was a valuable first experience for many of our team members, in designing for AR glasses. It shows the importance of simplicity, clarity, and ease of use.

What's next for Sunbeam

For this hack, we created a framework for the concept and AR use case. This toolkit is what we’re doing for this demo, not only for Spectacles, but with the potential to grow in other digital spaces. We’ve already received offers from other hackers to connect us with the legal resources to develop this further and are hopeful to make a meaningful impact.

Built With

• snapchat-spectacles
• typescript