Mental health is an important, yet often overlooked part of overall health. One way to improve mental health is to spend time in nature. Spending time outdoors has been shown to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression while also improving mood and cognitive function. In our fast-paced lives, like the hustle of education and jobs, mental health tends to get brushed aside.
The idea for the "Touch Grass" app came from a joke when my friends and I spent over 18 hours on League of Legends. When we were done we looked back and realized how useless we were to society in those 18 hours, and how much our mental health had deteriorated. But it soon blossomed into a powerful realization about the significance of spending time outdoors for mental well-being. This epiphany lit a fire within us, compelling us to create an app that not only motivates our friends, but also anyone seeking a renewed sense of motivation to stay active. "Touch Grass" is our way of infusing enthusiasm into the act of going outside, making it not just a pastime but a vital component of a healthier, happier life. It's our gift to the world, crafted from a genuine desire to bolster the well-being of our friends and beyond.
We created Touch Grass as a social networking platform that promotes meaningful interaction in a healthy environment.
Users log in and are immediately greeted with their "Grass Blade", a wholistic overview of their past outdoor experiences. From there they can move to the "Lawn" to view their friends' cherished memories, or the "Garden" to track their progress compared to their peers. If you're looking for a new place to visit near you, check out our "Find Grass" feature to find nearby green spaces for you and your friends to explore!
Our goal is to motivate people who would otherwise not leave their homes to get out and explore the world! At the same time, we've implemented features to ensure fair play, such as our "Grass Points" metric. Each photo is awarded "Grass Points" based on the weight of their outdoor activities. For example, a simple walk around the neighborhood may award 50-60 points (50 being the baseline for going outside). A hike or excursion may award up to 100 points, all verified by our custom computer vision model.
| Application | Purpose |
| Flutter, Dart, CSS, HTML, Material UI | Front-end Mobile Application |
| Firebase Authentication, Firebase Storage, Firebase Firestore, AWS Lambda | Backend |
| Figma, draw.io, Adobe Illustrator | Design and Testing |
| AWS, Python | Machine Learning and Computer Vision |
- Integration of computer vision with AWS Lambda posed an ongoing challenge, requiring optimization for real-time image analysis and nature element detection
- Coordinating the work of multiple developers presented a continuous hurdle in maintaining version control and ensuring effective collaboration to sustain code quality and project progression
- Despite our goals and aspirations for the project, we had to settle to build a viable product quickly within the timeframe
- Leveraged Flutter for efficient cross-platform development, saving time and resources while ensuring a consistent user experience across different devices
- Utilized Firebase for infrastructure and data storage, ensuring scalability, reliability, data security, and efficient handling of user-generated content and interactions
- Designed and implemented a real-time leaderboard algorithm that efficiently tracks user activity, providing instant feedback to encourage more frequent posting
- Implemented computer vision for real-time analysis through AWS Lambda, ensuring the app only accepted genuine outdoor images
- Curated a real-time feed for your circle, promoting real-time interactions, shared experiences, and a vibrant community of outdoor enthusiasts
- How to leverage Figma for collaborative app design, allowing multiple team members to work on UI/UX elements simultaneously and improve the design process
- How to implement robust data security measures to protect user information and maintain the privacy and trust of app users, including secure data storage and encryption protocols
- How to continuously monitor and optimize backend server resources, ensuring the app can handle increased traffic without performance bottlenecks or high operational costs
In the next phase of "Touch Grass," we're gearing up to bring you significant improvements. We'll be enhancing our image analysis with advanced machine learning, making our nature detection even more accurate. To keep you engaged, we're introducing daily and weekly quests that encourage you to explore new outdoor spots and take part in environmental challenges. Plus, get ready to interact with your friends on a whole new level, as we're adding the ability to leave comments on posts, fostering a sense of community and support. These updates will elevate your experience and further our mission of promoting outdoor wellness and mental health. Stay tuned for more exciting features to come! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZjMxzUz91Y&ab_channel=RishiMagiawala