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Teera - SMA Assistant App

Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is a rare, inherited neuromuscular disorder that causes muscle weakness. We created Teera, an assistive agent app designed to help parents of children with SMA.

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Inspiration

This project was inspired by the challenges faced by parents caring for children with genetic disorders, with a focus on SMA. We spoke with the parents of a kid with SMA and understood the problems they were facing, including the lack of resources and knowledge about the condition, and the lack of a strong community support.

Our goal was to create a resource that would empower these parents with knowledge and support, easing their daily struggles.

What it does

The SMA Assistant App is a one-stop shop for parents, offering a suite of intelligent agents designed to address various needs. It provides:

  • Awareness: Educational information about genetic disorders, including Autism and SMA.
  • Nutritional Guidance: Personalized suggestions for feeding strategies and suitable nutrition plans.
  • Cognitive Development: Guidance on activities, therapies, and technological tools to support cognitive growth.
  • Psychological Support: A safe space for parents to express concerns and access resources like support groups and self-care strategies.
  • General Information: An "Ask Me Anything" agent to answer user queries on various aspects of genetic disorders.
  • Community: To build a strong network of parents with kids of special needs (and SMA in particular) so it can act as a support group.

How we built it

  • The app leverages Vertex AI Agent Builder, allowing us to create multiple agents, each specializing in a specific area. These agents utilize a knowledge base and access approved external sources to deliver informative responses.
  • We used the Data Store feature to add several Research Papers to the knowledge base, aiding the agents in their responses and also acting as a grounding measure to prevent hallucinations.
  • We built a web app around the agents to help in ease of access and better user interface for the parents. We used the Flutter SDK to build the app.

Challenges we ran into

  • Curating reliable information: Ensuring the accuracy and up-to-dateness of the knowledge base and external sources was crucial.
  • Tailoring responses: Developing agents that could provide personalized guidance while maintaining a user-friendly and empathetic tone proved challenging.
  • Balancing comprehensiveness with user experience: Providing in-depth information without overwhelming users with complex details required careful design considerations.
  • Integrating the Agents with Flutter app: We could not find a straight-forward way to add the agent to the Flutter app, and had to find a work-around.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We're proud of creating a comprehensive and user-friendly app that empowers parents with knowledge and support. The ability to access information and resources across various aspects of caring for a child with a genetic disorder in one place is a significant accomplishment. We are also proud of the Flutter App we could build around the agents. We believe the UI of the app is simple and pretty enough to be of the parents' liking.

What we learned

This project highlighted the importance of clear communication and building trust with users, especially when dealing with sensitive health information. We learned the value of leveraging AI tools to provide accessible and informative resources to a community in need.

We also learnt a lot about the usage of Flutter App and the Vertex Builder. It was pretty good in accessing and not too messy.

What's next for SMA Assistant App

We envision expanding the app's capabilities by:

  • Integrating with healthcare platforms to allow for data sharing (with user consent) for a more personalized experience.
  • Including features for tracking progress and managing care routines.
  • Adding support for additional genetic disorders. By continuously developing the SMA Assistant App, we hope to become a valuable companion for parents navigating the challenges of caring for children with special needs.

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