Motibot: An anti-isolation application during the pandemic

Posted on: 3 February 2021 in Enterprise

Enterprise stories are a great way to get inspired. Amber, Alex, Amara and Gunan developed an anti-isolation application with hopes of providing students with a median towards socialising.

About us:

We are a group of first-year students consisted of a diverse range of disciplines and backgrounds. Our formation began on the university enterprise programme Opportunity Now! during Welcome Week and that is where our team started off. Gunan is a computer scientist from London, Amara a mechanical engineer from Bristol, Amber the politics student from Bath and Alex an Economics and Business student from Cyprus. Our story has its roots in online learning as we have never been physically in the same room together. However, this has not and will not stop all of us from taking on new challenges and gaining invaluable experience along the way.

About our idea:

Our first creative endeavour came up during the opportunity now enterprise challenge, which was organised by the University of Liverpool. With a mental health orientation, we developed an anti-isolation application with hopes of providing students with a median towards socialising. Having gathered feedback we took part in an industry-linked innovation challenge and shifted focus away from the party part of our app. Instead, we invested time in developing the motivation and mental health side of our pilot-app. As a result, ‘Motibot’ was formed. An app that follows behavioural patterns to recommend personalised motivational content and activities. This includes workouts, speeches and a calendar to make sure you’re keeping up with your day-to-day goals while maintaining a healthy balance of leisure time. 

The next steps for our business idea:  

• We need to look for people who can fund our business idea, so it takes off. During the planning stage, we had already picked the people with who we are going to partner. Now we just need to act on our plan. 
• Sufficient funding is required to make sure our idea can reach the masses and help the maximum amount of people possible. We have already identified methods to raise capital and all that is left now is taking action and approaching our potential investors. 
• Experts need to be contacted in order to optimise the AI software required to run the application. According to our estimates, this is feasible by the end of 2021. 
• Further research is required before the app-launch. Pilot versions of the app will be developed and released for early feedback. We will then use this information to perfect our project and market the end-product to the public. 

Participate in all enterprise events. By taking part in these events, you will make connections and learn more about how to improve your idea each time. Also, you might win funding for your business through these events

Have you participated in any enterprise activity or programmes at university?

We came up with our Motibot idea while participating in the ProjectSet uni-hack. The hackathon was very well organised; it was in partnership with Bupa and Schneider Electric. We had two mentors from the partner companies who provided us with valuable feedback that improved our idea and our pitch. ProjectSet held several workshops and keynote speeches over the course of the week, which aided our presentation and pitching skills. We were also given the opportunity to network with other students from other universities, allowing us to connect with like-minded people. Even though we didn’t win the hackathon, we received praise from the judges. We also received some ideas for improvement, which we are going to bring forward to our next challenge.  

Our top tips for future and current students looking to bring their idea to life: 

• Take action. If you have an idea, then act on it as soon as possible. At least write it down or discuss it with your team. To start off make a prototype/business model make your idea as visual as possible.  
• Participate in all enterprise events. By taking part in these events, you will make connections and learn more about how to improve your idea each time. Also, you might win funding for your business through these events.  
• Actively work on your idea. To see your idea come to life you will need to put many hours into it. Try and make time every week to work on this and don’t stop the rhythm of working on your idea. Even during exams and breaks from university try and put at least the minimum time that you need to put into it weekly.