Some of us will continue to work on the project after C4 programme.
Emily: Work on the health portion and general parts of the project
Sonika: General parts of the project
Foram: Work on the health portion of the project
Justina: Work on developing the exercises and health portion of the project
BEST Lab
Since we plan on applying to the BEST Program. We would be exposed to the development cycle to launch our project into a possible startup. Here is the application questions and its answers
What is the problem you are solving and what evidence do you have that the problem exists.
The Problem: How might a fitness app be accessible for people with disabilities?
With 15% of the world's population having a disability, there is minimal emphasis on accessible equipment and exercises. Over the past school term, we have tackled this question problem. We conducted secondary research encapsulating research papers and social media (Reddit & YouTube) and narrowed down the scope to people who have paraplegia that uses a wheelchair. It was a decision that would provide the most impact within the short time working on our Capstone Project.
Do you have progress towards a solution? Please explain what the progress is, or how you plan to find and build a solution?
We made progress towards our solution. We were able to develop a wireframe of the fitness app with features such as login, sign-up page, and onboarding process when registering and finally access to view the list of workouts and a chance to create a playlist of exercises. To complement the app wireframe, we developed a prototype of the app that featured the basic functionality of the features listed prior with a feature that logs how many minutes a user has exercised. We will continue to include additional features such as notifications and other tracking mechanisms to create a habit of exercising using the app.
Who are the users (individuals or organization) you are solving the problem for? What evidence is there that the potential users have the problem? Have you talked to the potential users who would be interested? What is their feedback?
By conducting primary research through a survey, we validated the result we got from our secondary research.
The physiotherapist and wheelchair users we surveyed mentioned:
the lack of familiarity with adaptive fitness exercises
the use of gym equipment because are not adaptive and may need additional help to set up the adaptive equipment
finding the motivation and space to exercise
This feedback comes from a very small pool of potential users and physiotherapists. Our plan for the future is to directly contact organizations such as Sociability, which is in London, United Kingdom, which developed an app that lets wheelchair users know if a location is accessible, and York University Student Accessibility Services.
Additional Fellowship Programs
In addition, we have curated a list of possible incubator/fellowship programs that can fund our project and mentor us as we are developing it.
Mass Challenge - https://masschallenge.org/about
Echoing Green - https://echoinggreen.org/fellowship/
Antler - https://www.antler.co/
Techstarts- https://www.techstars.com/