• August 5, 2020

MIT App Inventor Hackathon 2020 had kicked off on July 12th. Talented learners at KiddyPi have built 4 apps around the recently-announced themes. KiddyPi’s mentors had a great time in guiding and supporting the young hackers! Let’s have a sneak-peek into these apps:

Team 1

App Name:CovEd 19

Purpose:Lack of education is escalating the severity of COVID-19. CovEd 19 is an educational app without being preachy or deadly boring.

Features

• About COVID-19: Get all information related to what coronavirus is, what the symptoms are and what precautions shall they take.
• Self-assessment Test: Get all information related to risks and chances of infection. The app is installed with a chatbox. You can put your queries and get answers from top medical experts. The information provided here is aimed at educating you so that you can make informed decisions.
• Game: A fun way to learn the steps to beat COVID-19. By reaching a certain score, you get some valuable information on the pandemic.
• Quiz: Participate in a quiz contest to take your knowledge a notch up.
• Live Status: You can keep a track of the global number-table comprising the total number of infected and dead.
• COVID-19 Myth Busters: You can check this window to verify the authenticity of circulated news on the print or online media.

Benefits

• Users can keep a tab on the crucial information related to COVID-19 while on the go.
• Users can never give a miss to the vital precautionary steps.
• Users can only receive information from the most reliable sources, i.e. from the best medical experts themselves.
• Users can participate in fun games and quiz contests to acquire knowledge of COVID-19.
• Users can easily distinguish between a rumor and a fact.

Team 2

App Name: Life Saviour

Features

Purpose: Men have always struggled against natural calamities. Life Saviour app extends a helping hand towards survivors of natural calamities.

Features

• Quick Dial: In the hour of emergency, every moment counts. Life Saviour app makes it very easy to connect with the police, traffic security personnel, ambulance and firefighting services. The app keeps all the numbers of emergency services right at our fingertips.
• Connect Now: Call or text messages to emergency services.
• Click A Picture: Take pictures of your surroundings and guide rescue operation members to track you. A picture is worth a thousand words. Rescue teams can also estimate the extent of damage in an area.

Benefits

• Users can contact emergency services to save their lives and properties in real-time.
• Users can keep their confidence level high and don’t panic.
• Users can send crucial information to government authorities.
• Users can keep their loved ones informed of their conditions.
• Users can also customize this app for medical emergencies.

Team 3

App Name: Rainwater Harvesting

Purpose: A NITI Ayog survey report has claimed that by the end of this year, the groundwater level in 21 Indian cities will severely reduce. Though how far the predictions will prove right is yet doubtful, the rapidly depleting groundwater level is a matter of concern for all.

Rainwater Harvesting app educates users about the ground reality and makes them aware of the importance of rainwater harvesting.

Features

• Play and Learn: Learn about the importance of rainwater harvesting. Participate in a fun game. The app has 3 screens- a game window, a rules and regulations window and a video window.
• Exciting Contest-preconditions: There are some preconditions for participating in the game. Create a model by taking clues from an image. Participate in the game only after you arrange that model, properly.
• Demo Videos: The app includes video tutorials that explain the methods and benefits of rainwater harvesting.

Benefits

• Users can learn the methods of rainwater harvesting.
• Watch educational demonstration videos to participate in games. Learn about the benefits of rainwater harvesting without missing the fun element.

Team 4

App Name: Wishy Wave

Purpose: A virtual test-kit and a friend in need, Wishy Wave app helps users to check if they’re infected with coronavirus or not and the ideal steps to follow.

Features

• Self-detect: Give some basic details about your health and get valuable insights.
• Life-saving Tips: Get valuable precautionary tips.
• Emergency Medical Services at your Fingertips: Contact 24*7 helpline centers, book appointments with doctors at the hospitals/clinics and call emergency services like ambulances from the nearest health centers.
• Get Recommendations on Best Health Centers: Check the recommended lists of nearby hospitals/clinics.

Benefits

• Users can always stay alert.
• Users can stay in touch with medical experts in real-time. The WhatsApp feature facilitates direct conversations with doctors.
• Users can get help from emergency services at any time of the day.

Behind the Scenes

MIT App Inventor Hackathon 2020 is a global hackathon for youths and adults to build mobile apps using MIT app inventor website.

Children with little coding experience wanted to participate in this competition. We taught them coding concepts. We guided them to build simple apps that can interact with databases to store and retrieve data. They also learned how to create mobile games in our online courses covering 5 projects at each level (beginner, intermediate and advanced).

They gained confidence in coding concepts. They learned about variables, loops, conditional statements, functions, databases, etc. by attending our assignment-based online classes.

This hackathon competition was based on themes which were announced by the organizers, 6-days prior to the date of submission. We interacted with our students to gather their ideas related to the themes.

We gave inputs to students and helped them to structure their preparation time according to the following list:

• Planning
• Implementation
• Troubleshooting
• Presentation video

We allowed them to go and explore the possible features they can imagine and implement in the available preparation-time. We guided our learners on how to consolidate their ideas and add features to their apps.

Children showed the true spirit of MIT Hackathon contest by spending more hours into thinking, structuring, implementing and creating presentation videos of their apps.

They came up with suggestions to improve their apps and fix the issues to get better outcomes. The whole exercise helped them to improve their critical thinking and computational skills.

It was one of the best examples of teamwork. Learners discussed their doubts with their team members and interacted with our mentors for guidance. They learned more about team collaboration and communication skills.

They built app descriptions and created presentation videos. This improved their presentation skills.

In spite of the short time, students were able to implement all the features that they had planned to include. They implemented the features in working conditions. It helped them to boost their planning skills.

Parting Thoughts

KiddyPi’s talented learners have developed apps to bring positive changes in life. The year 2020 has posed some unprecedented challenges before us and the apps will help people to overcome them.

The team KiddyPi wishes all luck to our learners for the upcoming contests. Keep on learning and crossing the limitations. Like always, our mentors will provide you all-round support. For more information, contact us.

To know more,

Call/WhatsApp:

+91-98453-49742

+91-98457-22549

Or Email Us:

kiddypi@subhanu.com

Have a great life!