Team Concept Proposal
Dongwook “Louis” An, YU-CHENG “Eric” Chi, Sarah Lee, Michael Bruner
The two concepts that our team will be proposing are Sylvia, a foreign language communication chatbot, and The Garden Gnow-How, a virtual gnome that helps inexperienced gardeners care for their plants.
Learning a second language as an adult is a challenging feat that often takes countless hours of study, years of muddling through conversations, and quite a few embarrassing moments along the way. Many people who try to learn a language on their own give up long before becoming proficient, but for some people, such as immigrants, international businesspeople or healthcare providers, giving up is not always an option. What if there were a better way to learn a language?
That’s where Sylvia comes in. Sylvia is an AI chatbot that helps users learn different languages through conversation, which has been proven to be the best (some would say only) way to learn a new language. The user is able to select topics that are relevant to them, such as medical terminology, ordering food at a restaurant, or closing a sales deal, and then have a conversation about it with Sylvia. Sylvia speaks aloud but also displays the words on a screen so users learn to recognize the written language as well. Over time, Sylvia gets to know the user and is able to customize the learning experience so that the user is challenged to learn new skills but not overwhelmed by the level of difficulty. By diagnosing the user’s weak areas, Sylvia can provide additional practice and coaching on pronunciation, grammar, and more. After just a small amount of time conversing with Sylvia, users will experience tremendous growth in both skill and confidence.
Our Elevator Pitch: Jared, an international salesman, can communicate confidently in multiple languages after conversing with and receiving coaching from the Sylvia bot.
Check out our Customer Profile Map and Value Map below.
Our second product idea is the Garden Gnow-How. This fun tool is a virtual gnome that helps home gardeners and houseplant owners understand how to care for their plants. Inexperienced horticulturists are often intimidated by the prospect of starting a garden — What plant species grow well in this area and season? How often do I water? What type of soil is best for this plant? Gardening requires a lot of knowledge that usually cannot be successfully learned through trial and error. Our AI application answers these questions and offers a fun engaging interface throughout the experience.
The gnome diagnoses problems with the plant and makes recommendations for its care after investigating the plant and its surrounding soil. The gnome is also able to show the user a projection of what their plant will look like fully grown. This tool can help people grow their own food in order to eat more healthfully and reduce their carbon footprint while enjoying a new hobby. It can also benefit the environment by discouraging users from cultivating invasive species or water-intensive plants. This is a useful application of AI because the gnome can discover problems that an inexperienced home gardener could not, while also motivating users to keep growing.
Our Elevator Pitch: Tom, an inexperienced home gardener, can grow healthy and vibrant plants in his backyard using The Garden Gnow-How to discover and implement plant care techniques.
See below for our Customer Profile Map and Value Map.
