## Inspiration

The idea of Fizz inspired us and motivated us to work on a simple yet intuitive budgeting solution that can be used by students especially teens.

## What it does

Fizzy is a simple yet seamless way for teens to have a track of their expenses and visualize them through graphs and charts. Fizzy also provides recommendations for users in managing their expenses. We provide users alerts when their expenses cross a given threshold limit. Further, Fizzy can help the user in decision making and managing the budget by providing an overview about how money is spent and how it can be saved.

## How we built it

We built Fizzy as a cross platform Flutter application. We used Firebase Firestore to save user data and retrieve it in real time. We also used a number of plugins and libraries which include charts for data visualization and tensorflow lite for deep learning.

## Challenges we ran into

* We lost touch with Flutter because it's been months since we worked on it. Today, we attempted to gain back the touch and it took us quite a while.
* Data viz consumed us remarkable amount of time.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

* Coming up with a fully functional project within the time limits.
* Team work.

## What's next for Fizzy

* Researching the potential of such ideas in Fintech and know the shortcomings.
* Re construct the idea based on the inferences and try deploying it in the market.
## Inspiration

Our inspiration came from seeing how overwhelming managing finances can be, especially for students and young professionals. Many struggle to track spending, stick to budgets, and plan for the future, often due to a lack of accessible tools or financial literacy.

So, we decided to build a solution that isn't just another financial app, but a tool that empowers individuals, especially students, to take control of their finances with simplicity, clarity, and efficiency. We believe that managing finances should not be a luxury or a skill learned through trial and error, but something that is accessible and intuitive for everyone

## What it does

Sera simplifies financial management by providing users with an intuitive dashboard where they can track their recent transactions, bills, budgets, and overall balances - all in one place. What truly sets it apart is the personalization, AI-powered guidance that goes beyond simple tracking. Users receive actionable recommendations like "manage your budget" or "plan for retirement" based on their financial activity

With features like scanning receipts via QR code and automatic budget updates, we ensure users never miss a detail. The AI chatbot, SeraAI, offers tailored financial advice and can even handle tasks like adding transactions or adjusting budgets - making complex financial decisions easy and stress-free. With a focus on accessibility, Sera makes financial literacy approachable and actionable for everyone.

## How we built it

We used Next.js with TailwindCSS for a responsive, dynamic UI, leveraging server-side rendering for performance. The backend is powered by Express and Node.js, with MongoDB Atlas for scalable, secure data storage.

For advanced functionality, we integrated Roboflow for OCR, enabling users to scan receipts via QR codes, automatically updating their transactions, Cerebras handles AI processing, powering SeraAI, our chatbot that offers personalized financial advice and automates various tasks on our platform. In addition, we used Tune to provide users with customized financial insights, ensuring a proactive and intuitive financial management experience

## Challenges we ran into

Integrating OCR with our app posed several challenges, especially when using Cerebras for real-time processing. Achieving high accuracy was tricky due to the varying layouts and qualities of receipts, which often led to misrecognized data.

Preprocessing images was essential; we had to adjust brightness and contrast to help the OCR perform better, which took considerable experimentation. Handling edge cases, like crumpled or poorly printed receipts, also required robust error-checking mechanisms to ensure accuracy.

While Cerebras provided the speed we needed for real-time data extraction, we had to ensure seamless integration with our user interface. Overall, combining OCR with Cerebras added complexity but ultimately enhanced our app’s functionality and user experience.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re especially proud of developing our QR OCR system, which showcases our resilience and capabilities despite challenges. Integrating OCR for real-time receipt scanning was tough, as we faced issues with accuracy and image preprocessing.

By leveraging Cerebras for fast processing, we overcame initial speed limitations while ensuring a responsive user experience. This accomplishment is a testament to our problem-solving skills and teamwork, demonstrating our ability to turn obstacles into opportunities. Ultimately, it enhances our app’s functionality and empowers users to manage their finances effectively.

## What we learned

We learned that financial education isn’t enough, people need ongoing support to make lasting changes. It’s not just about telling users how to budget; it’s about providing the tools, guidance, and nudges to help them stick to their goals. We also learned the value of making technology feel human and approachable, particularly when dealing with sensitive topics like money.

## What's next for Sera

The next steps for Sera include expanding its capabilities to integrate with more financial platforms and further personalizing the user experience to provide everyone with guidance and support that fits their needs. Ultimately, we want Sera to be a trusted financial companion for everyone, from those just starting their financial journey to experienced users looking for better insights.
## Inspiration

In a world increasingly dominated by food delivery, we recognized the need to promote homecooked meals. Our inspiration for *Re:Recipes* stems from a desire to encourage healthier eating habits while also decreasing the amount of excessive food waste.

## What it does

*Re:Recipe* takes in the ingredients the user has that are readily available, and the platform provides the user recipe recommendations that incorporate the given ingredients. By facilitating home cooking and encouraging the usage of extra ingredients lying around, our platform not only promotes healthier lifestyles but also aims to reduce each user's environmental footprint.

## How we built it

The project is built using Python's Flask web framework, allowing for seamless interaction with users, along with HTML, CSS (Bootstrap), and JavaScript. We also utilized Supabase, a robust backend service, to store and retrieve recipe data efficiently. This online API was used to generate and store our current set of data for the recipes. The integration of Supabase enables rapid data retrieval based on user-inputted ingredients, ensuring a quick and personalized recipe recommendation process. The backend and server calls were mainly programmed using JavaScript.

## Challenges we ran into

With each of us having little experience in hackathons and meeting for the first time, it took us a few hours to get to know each other, establish what we wanted to build, what to build with, and to install all the tools we wanted to use before actually starting to code the project. The need to learn while programming a project within a time limit dramatically increased our stress and drained our energy quicker.

## Accomplishments that we're proud of

First and foremost, we are all incredibly proud of the fact that, well, we did it! We successfully created a functioning product that we could share with the judges of this incredible hackathon, after hours of typing away on Visual Studio Code, learning new frameworks and technologies, and struggling in unison to fix bugs in our program. We had high hopes for what we could accomplish in this 24 hour hackathon, and while not all of our aspirations came to fruition, we can all confidently say that, for our first hackathon, we worked pretty well together!

## What we learned

Building "Re:Recipes" taught us valuable lessons in web development and database management. We gained insights into creating an effective recommendation system, and creating a visually appealing and responsive user interface. Working with Supabase enhanced our understanding of utilizing powerful backend tools to streamline data operations. As first-time hackers, not only did we gain valuable experience working with APIs and frameworks, but we learned about the challenges that come with programming as a team with a tight schedule. Quick decision-making and ability to compromise for the benefit of the team proved to be imperative in progressing the project, and overall in building a hack that we can all be proud of!

## What's next for Re:Recipes

In this hackathon, we were able to create a basic recipe finding tool that filters through a database to give the user recommendations. With more time to ideate and program, and with more experience in the field of machine learning, we envision that Re:Recipes can make use of powerful machine learning and querying models to give users personalized recipe recommendations. In the future, Re:Recipes users would be able to save their history of enjoyed recipes and cuisine, and pull recipes from a much larger database, to give users a variety of culinary journeys that they're sure to enjoy! All in all, we hope to grow Re:Recipes into an efficient assistant in the kitchen, with one goal in mind: to bring the fun back into home-cooking!