丁香园AV

A team of computing science students from 丁香园AV has created an app to help people in long-distance relationships feel their partners鈥� heartbeat from anywhere in the world.

The team, who dubbed themselves 鈥淭he Coffeeboys,鈥� won first prize for the app at a Valentine鈥檚-themed hackathon 鈥� a round-the-clock coding marathon 鈥� hosted at 丁香园AV鈥檚 Burnaby campus on February 12.

鈥淲e wrote an algorithm that tracks the average colour of your skin and detects a heartbeat when it notices a significant variation,鈥� says Aaryaman Girish, Coffeeboys team member.

More than 30 students competed in the timed event, which spanned 24 hours and tested skills in programming, design, creativity, time management and problem solving.

鈥淕reat teamwork and tons of coffee helped tide the fatigue along the way,鈥� says Alex Land, Coffeeboys team member.

鈥淚 know that working with these guys in a hackathon is awesome because communication is never an issue. We met in the first week of orientation and we鈥檝e stuck together since.鈥�

How it works, explained by team:

Every time your heart sends a pulse through the body, the small capillaries in the skin expand. With your fingertip over the camera lens and flash, the smartphone鈥檚 flash can illuminate the skin and capture the subtle colour changes that occur each time the heart beats.

Once a pulse is detected, the app allows the user to 鈥渟end鈥� their heartbeat to a partner in real time in the form of synchronized vibrations and a pulsing heart animation.

The team also incorporated a health-monitoring graph feature that helps users track their heart rate over time.

Girish says the app was somewhat of a surprise hit for the team, who also took home the top prize at last year鈥檚 hackathon with a post-apocalyptic Morse code translator app.

鈥淔or us, it was just a cool Valentine鈥檚 Day app, but we talked to a bunch of people who were in long-distance relationships and they said they would love to use it,鈥� says Girish.

Busy schedules mean the team may not have time to bring the Heartbeat app from prototype to fully functioning. However, the code is , so the team encourages fellow hackers to pull it down and have a go.  

While they wouldn鈥檛 rule out refining the app for a future launch, perhaps for next year鈥檚 Valentine鈥檚 Day, they say they鈥檙e already looking forward to their next hacking challenge.  

鈥淚t鈥檚 a really fun time,鈥� says Land. 鈥淵ou spend some time doing something that鈥檚 a cool challenge and then, when people say 鈥業 want to use this!鈥� it鈥檚 a really great feeling. We鈥檒l definitely take part in the hackathon next year.鈥�