Scavenger

Our project is a scavenger hunt that focuses on the use of Google APIs and OpenCV object recognition. The basic premise of the app is that when the user opens it, the app will provide the user with a short instructions page that describes how to play the game. Once the user presses the “Let’s start the mission” button, the app will ask the user how many locations they’d like to visit that day. After the user enters a number (between 1 and 10), the app will scan that number of nearby locations within a certain distance of the user’s current location. Each location is associated with an image and a clue, briefly alluding to the location’s type (museum, library, gym, etc.). Users will then have to reach the clue location and, when they think they’re close enough, they’ll have to take a picture of the location, using the picture that we provided as a template.  Once the user takes the picture, our object recognition algorithm will compare the photo taken to each clue location’s photo. If the user’s picture matches with the clue photo and is deemed to be correct, that clue is considered to be solved. When a clue is solved, its location and photo is removed from the map, leaving the remaining clues to be located. The purpose of the game is to combat obesity, particularly in children, and to get people who enjoy virtual games to go outside and get some exercise. We decided to implement our game with a “spy mission” theme to make it more appealing to kids. This is seen in the color scheme/UI for the game.

Our app was inspired by the popularity of Pokemon Go this past summer. From this, it has become obvious that if a game is interesting enough, it can get children to go outside and play. However, Pokemon Go has a fatal flaw. Rather than confirming that users actually go to each location, it only checks if they are within a certain GPS range of it. Rather than actually walking everywhere, users began to exploit the Pokemon Go framework, simply driving down the highway and grabbing points for whatever they happened to be in range of. Our game attempts to address this flaw by making users take photos at each location, forcing them to stop, match their image with the one we provide, and continue. This often leads users inside buildings or in other locations where just driving by and taking a picture is not an option.