PetPals

PetPals turns plushies, dolls, and even pets into personalized AI companions, offering gentle, warm, and safe support in your pocket. “Because sometimes, we all just need a little extra support.”

Comment

Inspiration

Looking at the plushies in my bedroom, I sometimes feel a quiet sense of emptiness. I wondered what if they could talk back? What if I could give them names, personalities, and a presence that felt comforting? Sometimes I just want a bit of emotional connection and support, not from ChatGPT as a tool, and not necessarily from another human, but from something that feels safe, warm, and familiar. That curiosity became the inspiration for PetPals.

What it does

PetPals turns your favourite plushies, dolls, and even pets into personalized AI companions. Users upload images of their plushies, customize their name, role, and personality, and chat with them whenever they want. The experience is intentionally simple, but designed to feel warm, supportive, and safe.

How we built it

We built PetPals using the MERN stack and integrated the Gemini AI API to power personalized conversations.

Challenges we ran into

Before the hackathon, we already had a solid project idea and team formation. During the opening ceremony, we realized our idea overlapped closely with one of the sponsor companies. With guidance from the ideation lab and through many team discussions, we decided to pivot and brainstorm a new direction. While challenging, this process ultimately led us to PetPals: a simpler but more meaningful idea that we’re really glad we pursued.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

Successfully pivoting to a new idea under time pressure Designing an emotionally driven product with a clear user experience Building a functional AI-powered prototype within the hackathon timeframe

What we learned

How to work with an AI API React fundamentals and component-based design Implementing CRUD operations in a full-stack application

What’s next for PetPals

Next, we want to expand PetPals with:

  • Enhance UI for better aesthetics and user-friendliness
  • Group Chat Users can chat with multiple pals at once, and even watch them interact with each other.
  • Smart Notifications: Your pal can check in outside the app through browser notifications, such as: A nurse pal reminding you to eat healthy. A therapy pal checking in on your mental health. A mom pal telling you to go to sleep

Of course, users will always be able to mute their pals or customize how often they receive messages.

Share this project:

Updates

posted an update —

‼ Below is a more detailed description of the project. This was meant to be put under the main page before the deadline. Unfortunately, due to conflicts, the original version was accidentally rewritten.

Inspiration

Looking at the plushies in my bedroom, I sometimes feel a quiet sense of emptiness. I wondered what if they could talk back? What if I could give them names, personalities, and a presence that felt comforting? Sometimes I just want a bit of emotional connection and support, not from ChatGPT as a tool, and not necessarily from another human, but from something that feels safe, warm, and familiar. That curiosity became the inspiration for PetPals.

What it does

PetPals turns your favourite plushies, dolls, and even pets into personalized AI companions. Users upload images of their plushies, customize their name, role, and personality, and chat with them whenever they want. The experience is intentionally simple, but designed to feel warm, supportive, and safe.

How we built it

We built PetPals using the MERN stack and integrated the Gemini AI API to power personalized conversations.

Challenges we ran into

Before the hackathon, we already had a solid project idea and team formation. During the opening ceremony, we realized our idea overlapped closely with one of the sponsor companies. With guidance from the ideation lab and through many team discussions, we decided to pivot and brainstorm a new direction. While challenging, this process ultimately led us to PetPals: a simpler but more meaningful idea that we’re really glad we pursued.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

  • Successfully pivoting to a new idea under time pressure
  • Designing an emotionally driven product with a clear user experience
  • Building a functional AI-powered prototype within the hackathon timeframe

What we learned

  • How to work with an AI API
  • React fundamentals and component-based design
  • Implementing CRUD operations in a full-stack application

What’s next for PetPals

Next, we want to expand PetPals with:

  • Group Chat

  • Users can chat with multiple pals at once, and even watch them interact with each other.

  • Smart Notifications Your pal can check in outside the app through browser notifications, such as: A nurse pal reminding you to eat healthy A therapy pal checking in on your mental health A mom pal telling you to go to sleep

Of course, users will always be able to mute their pals or customize how often they receive messages.

A mom pal telling you to go to sleep And of course, you can mute them anytime, or alter the frequency at which they send out these messages.

Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.