The idea for Animon came from our desire to create a gamified app that encouraged children to interact with the natural world while engaging with and learning about tech. The app includes a list of target animals with fun facts and embedded YouTube videos to teach users about each animal. It integrates the device’s camera so users can take photos of animals, and then uses image recognition to confirm if a target animal has been found. The app includes a gallery of the user’s photos, and a map showing pins where the images were taken. The app is gamified with badge achievements that are awarded based on how many animals have been successfully found.

After spiking we found these technologies were well supported by documentation, they integrated well together, and they challenged us to learn new things.