DayTalks | Devpost

Inspiration

Our inspiration comes from the challenges faced by international students, who often struggle with poor mental health while being far from home. The emotional toll of adapting to a new environment, compounded by time zone differences and lack of real-time support, can leave students feeling isolated. DayTalks aims to bridge that gap by providing a supportive, AI-driven platform where users can express their emotions, track their mental health, and feel connected no matter the distance.

What it does

DayTalks is an AI-powered mental health app that allows users to log their emotions through voice recordings, track their moods over time, and receive personalized emotional insights, helping them stay connected and supported wherever they are.

How we built it

We developed the frontend using React.js and Tailwind CSS to create a dynamic, responsive, and user-friendly interface. The backend is powered by FastAPI, ensuring efficient and scalable communication. For emotional analysis, we integrated HumeAI to deliver real-time emotional intelligence. MongoDB manages user authentication and secure data storage. We incorporated Groq and Llama 3.1 to provide personalized feedback and insights, further enhancing user engagement. Additionally, Deepgram was used for accurate and seamless speech recognition, allowing users to easily log their emotions through voice.

Challenges we ran into

Creating a welcoming UI: Designing a mental health app that feels personalized and comforting while maintaining simplicity and usability.
Implementing JWT tokens: Learning how to securely manage user authentication using JWT for a scalable, secure login system.
Fetching user history: Ensuring efficient retrieval and display of personalized data was key to user experience.
Optimizing backend efficiency: Ensuring smooth communication between the frontend and backend, especially with real-time interactions.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Building a full stack + AI-powered application in just 36 hours.
Seamless teamwork and communication, even when faced with technical challenges.
Creating a personalized and welcoming user interface, thoughtfully designed for mental health support.

What we learned

Early ideation is key: By brainstorming and planning before the hackathon, we were able to hit the ground running and start building immediately.
The importance of UI prototyping: We realized the value of laying out the UI in tools like Figma, as it allows frontend developers to begin implementation faster and stay aligned with the design vision.
Setting clear checkpoints: Establishing checkpoints throughout the hackathon helped us stay on track and ensure progress, making sure that we delivered a solid MVP on time.