Case Study
Developing apps that are used by Formula 1 drivers and US Olympic weightlifters to improve their focus skills
Region
Sommerville, MA
Industries
Health & Wellbeing,
Wearables, IoT & Custom Hardware
Client
BrainCo
The Client
BrainCo grew out of the Harvard Innovation Lab. They develop cognitive training technology products and apply their expertise in machine learning, design, and neuroscience to create innovative cognitive-based applications.
One of their main products is the FocusCalm Headband, a wireless EEG headband that’s accurate as well as comfortable, durable, lightweight, and easy to use.
Our First Challenge
When we started working together, BrainCo's internal development team had their hands full with several projects, but they still needed to move ahead with their plans and could not afford to lose momentum.
Given that situation, they started looking for a reliable tech partner that was experienced with iOS development as well as with wearable products like the FocusCalm Headband.
The task was to build the iOS version of Focus Fit, an app that included daily training exercises and games featuring
sports-psychology content, relaxation training, focus training, and cognitive skills training to keep the mind sharp.
It was very important that the app was built by the same technical standards BrainCo had when they built their software solutions on their own.
Our Solution
Our teams collaborated seamlessly and the results were great. The app was delivered in time and the result met the client's strict quality standards.
One of the technical challenges we faced was using BrainCo's WiFi based proprietary SDK to connect with the Headband. Integration with the headband was a breeze, and it allowed us to focus on putting together a beautiful UX/UI that would allow elite athletes to improve their skills by incorporating the exercises featured in the app into their training routine.
A New Challenge
Some time passed after our first collaboration with BrainCo. In that time they started building the FocusCalm app, a much more holistic attempt at the goal of using their technology to improve people's lives.
For this new app, they decided to use Flutter, which would allow them to create iOS and Android apps with just one codebase.
The FocusCalm app –paired with the FocusCalm Headband– offers users a wide set of programs consisting of training exercises, guided meditations and games.
BrainCo's intention has alway been to offer their users the best content available, and with that pursuit in mind we were tasked with helping them bring some of their amazing ideas for games to life.
Our Solution
We've been working with BrainCo since, and together we have built lots of games for the app.
We started with basic games built on Flutter, but later we moved to some more complex games. For this, we leveraged the Unity framework to build games with more advanced mechanics and graphics, and we integrated those games into the main FocusCalm app.
This is a very interesting combination of frameworks and technologies, since the overall result involves a Wearable connected via Bluetooth to an iOS and Android app built using Flutter, and controlling the gameplay of a Unity game that runs seamlessly inside the app.
This aspect of the solution caught the attention from people at Sendbird –the messaging API unicorn from San Francisco– and led to a webinar where they invited us to speak about the solution we built together with BrainCo.
This is a very interesting combination of frameworks and technologies, since the overall result involves a Wearable connected via Bluetooth to an iOS and Android app built using Flutter, and controlling the gameplay of a Unity game that runs seamlessly inside the app.
This aspect of the solution caught the attention from people at Sendbird –the messaging API unicorn from San Francisco– and led to a webinar where they invited us to speak about the solution we built together with BrainCo.
“They doubled our subscription base. The reason why I love this team is they are able to take a step back and challenge us to make our idea better. Other agencies I’ve worked with would just do what I told them. They take great pride in their work, and they treat our product and company like it’s their own”
