Recently, I got invited to join a pilot program started by Microsoft. It involved working with my peers from my school, and knowledgable mentors at Microsoft. The goal of the program was for the four of us (Me, Sara, Marcus, and Paige) to create a product that we could present at the BCTech Summit, all under our mentor, Stacy Mulcahy. It started off with us brainstorming a number of ideas. We got to play with the tech that they had at Microsoft, and that included 3D printers, Hololenses, and Mixed Reality/Virtual Reality headsets.
While the promise of developing something for virtual reality seemed enticing (And dear god, it really was), we also wanted to create a product that could help people who used it. After taking a day to brainstorm, we wanted to make something that could improve a user’s mental health. We decided to create a smart mirror that would detect the emotion that the user is feeling, and then react and give help on how to deal with that emotion.
A great visit from Stacey of @MicrosoftVan today to support @rside43 student innovation creations. @MicrosoftEDU #CBLchat #ExpertLearning pic.twitter.com/WixerUvPcu
— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) April 23, 2018
Over the course of a month and a bit, we came to the Microsoft Garage in our own free time to work on developing the software to detect the users emotion, and the hardware to house everything. I worked on the software with our mentor Stacy Mulcahy. She taught me basic coding with JavaScript, how to add APIs, and how to use Visual Studio and GitHub. Marcus and Paige worked on creating a box to house the mirror. Stacy also ordered some 2-way acrylic panels for us.
Amazing connections! @rside43 students working at @MicrosoftVan to set up their #mentalhealth innovation to share at the #BCTECHSummit #BCtech @bcic @lindsaymchan @pamelaSsaunders #CBLchat #ExpertLearning pic.twitter.com/wg72qCFeK3
— Sean Robinson (@sr_tutor) May 12, 2018
The prototype was a taken apart monitor that was connected to a raspberry pi, which is all stored inside of the box. We have a keyboard and mouse connected to the prototype, but later, we would like it to be touch/voice activated. The monitor/pi is stored inside the box, and the two-way acrylic covers the monitor to create the smart mirror functionality. There is also a camera attached to the top of the mirror that scans the person sitting in front of it and sends the face to the API to get it analyzed. Once it’s analyzed, the information gets sent back to the mirror, which is displayed in the ultimate form of millennial communication: an emoji.
We’re super proud of what we created. Being able to proudly walk into the showroom, and talk to all these amazing people in the tech industry about what we built was an amazing feeling.
I love those phrases: not as a customer. As a producer. Yes, it was you and what you produced that people were coming to check out. I am glad you were able to share your creation at the BC Tech Summit. We are all very proud of what you four were able to do in such a short time. It speaks to the power of connections and mentorship. One question: how can you leverage this experience for the future?