Puente

Inspiration

This project was inspired by our lives here in Miami, in which many different lives and cultures are very interconnected. We wanted to help tourists and newcomers connect better with our culture here at-home, along with spreading this motivation to other cities and countries around the world.

What it does

This project is a mobile application, in which a user can take a picture of text, whether it be from a sign, a poster, or even a food menu, and have it automatically translated and have the terms explained in a way they can understand. However, it goes beyond a standard translation app, by integrating itself deeper into a location's culture and correctly translating and expanding on the context behind significant slang and cultural phrases more native to a region. This will help tourists and newcomer feel more welcome and integrated into the culture of a specific place, in this case Miami.

How we built it

We build this application using a React Native framework for the frontend, along with a Python backend, utilizing FastAPI and making the most of prompt engineering behind the Google Gemini API.

Challenges we ran into

Over the course of this project, we ran into many challenges. One of our greatest challenges was connected the frontend to the backend or making the action of taking a picture and sending it to our backend more concrete. We spent an unbelievable amount of time on this, spending well over 8 hours on just this issue.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of our accomplishment of creating a good minimal-viable product to present and show off to others, as well as our grander ideas of expanding this project beyond its current horizons.

What we learned

We learned many aspects of engineering during this project. From more hard skills like Docker deployment, React Native framework specifics, and LLM API deployment, to soft skills like maintaining patience throughout challenging times, and pacing ourselves right during a short hackathon like this.

What's next for Puente

We have a very small and local use for Puente as of right now. To move forward, we would like to expand the horizons of Puente to fit the cultures of other cities and perform similar actions in similar places. Additional features we would like to add are phrase cards to save, more expansion on the dialects that are translated, different auditory mechanisms, and a community glossary to make this even more interconnected.