kaleidoHope

kaleidoscope doodling to promote relaxation for mental hospital patients experiencing anxiety, depression, and some sensory processing disorders

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Inspiration

As a past volunteer for Special Olympics working with kids experiencing anxiety, depression, or sensory processing disorders (specifically visual and touch sensory like discrimination disorder and tactile discrimination disorder), I had them in mind while thinking of a mobile game that promotes promote relaxation, mindfulness, and creativity. A fun thing for them to do while they sit on the bench to calm nerves as they wait to bat at home plate with their other teammates.

What it does

kaleidoHope is a digital relaxation tool designed for patients in mental hospitals, providing a soothing and interactive experience. Inspired by the mesmerizing movement of multi-colored, multi-mirrored kaleidoscope patterns, users can tap the screen to add more ink and watch it swirl and interact in calming ways. This sensory experience promotes mindfulness, reduces anxiety, and offers a peaceful escape through touch-based interaction. Whether used for stress relief or as a therapeutic aid, kaleidoHope transforms a simple digital canvas into a space for tranquility and self-expression.

How we built it

This app is a Flutter-based mobile application using Flame Engine with an Node/Express, MongoDB/Mongoose backend storing username and password. (Proven to work via Postman per screenshot, lacking a frontend)

Challenges we ran into

A few for backend include having to force the PORT manually in terminal to get the endpoint working, deciding whether to combine /register and /login endpoints, or make them separate, etc.

A few for frontend include deciding to switch to creating kaleidoscope patterns at 6am Sunday morning after failing to create the ink in ferrofluid physics I originally ideated ( inspiration form this video https://www.instagram.com/p/DCCjIGOOQWm/). The equations were way too difficult, though Flutter and their game engine had the capabilities. The library would have taken much longer than just a weekend. Time had other plans.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

I've never programmed with Flutter before (despite having a Mac), so developing for the first time over 2 days was definitely a stretch! Pulling off the trigonometric equations to pull off the kaleidoscope patterns that I have always felt comfort in as a kid.

What we learned

Never using Flutter means never knowing how the Runner works in XCode's simulator. It took 3 hours to figure out how to make my phone compatible with this new system and it worked wonders to help me debug! The components were similar to that of my past web app projects in Angular, but there were still never small meticulous details that took hours to debug with Reddit and StackOverflow. Also, the way that Flutter renders with their shaders is convenient, yet something to definitely get used to compared to using SCSS.

What's next for kaleidoHope

Growing a backend for patients to share their patterns with each other. This can also be a great opportunity to bond with their fellow patients and turn kaleidoHope into a platform where they can share their drawings with each other, and have a anonymous like, comment, and share feature? If I add a canvas feature where patients can just draw freely more freely, the colors their choose and the pen textures they decide to make their kaleidoscopes out of can be fantastic data for hospitals to gain more insight into the mental state of their patients throughout their medication periods so they can adjust their treatments. Is this patient optimistic or pessimistic based on this drawing they made? What colors are they choosing?

In the end, I really wanted kaleidoHope to be a light of hope for individuals going through much more intense mental realities than others. Art has always been one of the best avenues for therapeutic aid, so I wanted to do something to help contribute to this incredible little world.

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