Plan-it

Inspiration# Plan-It: A Wellness Companion for Astronauts

Inspiration

Our inspiration for Plan-It came from the challenges astronauts face in space, especially around mental and physical well-being. In the isolated environment of space, maintaining wellness and a sense of companionship can be difficult. We created an engaging tool that helps astronauts track their wellness journey in a way that feels supportive, fun, and interactive. Our goal was to make healthy living accessible and engaging, whether it is in space or back on Earth.

What We Learned

Building Plan-It taught us valuable lessons about user engagement. We learned that wellness is about creating motivation and providing emotional support. Designing an evolving pet alien character helped us explore how visual progress could encourage consistent participation. The experience also deepened our understanding of frontend development.

Project Structure

Plan-It was designed as a web application with four main features:

Task Management: Allows astronauts to set tasks, mark off objectives, and keep track of their goals.
Nutritional information: helps astronauts log meals and provide accurate information regarding their nutrition.
Introspection Exercises: Provides daily reflection prompts to support mental well-being and reduce stress.
*Productivity Tracker *: Recognizes where astronaut is in a room to measure how long they spend doing certain activities.
Alien Companion: A fun, evolving alien character that represents Astronaut's progress, building good habits.

Challenges Faced

One of the initial challenges we encountered was our attempt to use a lidar to model a room instead of a regular webcam. While lidar provided detailed room depictions, processing the rendering of these objects was extremely difficult and impractical for our needs. After some trial and error, we decided to focus on a simpler approach, aligning more closely with our primary goal of tracking and visualizing wellness in an engaging way.

Another challenge was designing an experience that would remain interesting over time. After dinner, we decided on an evolving alien companion, and it became one our most crucial feature as it provided users with visual feedback that kept them invested in their wellness progress.

Conclusion

Plan-It combines functionality and motivation, offering a supportive, interactive platform to help astronauts maintain well-being in the most challenging environments.

We’re excited about the potential for Plan-It to support wellness, both in space and on Earth, and to inspire more solutions that make healthy living accessible and fun for everyone.