Inspiration
We took inspiration from some already existing applications that used Adobe Flash, and then we thought of how we could apply the use of such applications to healthcare in the home. Then, we had realized that those undergoing physical therapy could benefit from such games that trained reflexes and hand-eye coordination.
What it does
What our app essentially does is it allows the user to select 2 different "minigames" which will help them in their physical therapy. The first "minigame" is one testing hand-eye coordination, requiring the user to move the mouse to click circles under a time limit. Then, the user can compare their current scores with their previous scores to see how much they've improved with their physical therapy. The second "minigame" tests reaction speed, requiring the user to click the screen as soon as they detect a change in background color. This test runs 5 different times to get an average, and then the user can compare this average with what they've gotten in the past to see if their reaction time has sharpened.
How we built it
We had built our program with a combination of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. We used HTML for our text, CSS to format that text, and then JavaScript for the back-end programming and calculations behind the scenes. As for what web editor we used, we had chosen P5 to edit our application.
Challenges we ran into
One big challenge that we ran into was even choosing a topic to begin with, as we weren't really able to agree on a single idea for our project. This led to a couple hours having been wasted of just us brainstorming and not actually having come up with an idea. Another closely related problem was that we hadn't really made it clear what we were working on, and this actually led to 3 of us working on 3 different projects at the same time. Next, another challenge was simply that many of us were unfamiliar with JavaScript, so it took a while to grasp the fundamentals of it. Finally, a bit of a smaller challenge that we ran into was not having anyone experienced with front-end development, so our application hadn't really looked polished.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
One accomplishment that we're proud of is that all of us had contributed in some way to the project, even if some of us had to leave a little bit earlier. Another great accomplishment for us is that despite the challenges we faced, we hadn't thrown in the towel and were actually able to get a working app out, even if it could use some improvements.
What we learned
One thing we learned is that for future Hackathons, we should take brainstorming more seriously and really try to go into the details of each idea such that we'd all reach a consensus, and we have to be very clear about what topic we've finally chosen to avoid any confusion. Next, we had also learned a lot about JavaScript as well, and that will be very useful in the future.
What's next for Therapy-Training
I believe that there are a couple more things we can add for our app to improve it further. First, we should add more activities that the user can do besides assessing their hand eye coordination and reaction time, as currently we only have 2 such activities. Next, specifically for the hand eye coordination training, we have no scientific comparison of how the user did in the minigame compared to others, as there's no real measurement besides how many circles are clicked. Third, the GUI could use some improvement, as currently some color schemes used on some screens don't blend very well with others. Finally, we may also want to add another section to the app about other ways in which those undergoing physical activity can improve their lives.
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