- Designing an appropriate mental health concept
Creating a suitable concept for a mental health chatbot application comes with its unique set of challenges, primarily due to the sensitive nature of the topic that demands utmost care and empathy. Mental health is a deeply personal and delicate issue, making it crucial to approach the design process with great sensitivity and respect for the users’ emotional well-being. Therefore the planning and design process required multiple cycles of refinement and validation involving psychology expert views and much in-depth research.
- Overcoming initial setbacks - Chatterbot
In the initial stages, we invested considerable time in extensive research and working with the Chatterbot framework to build the foundation of our application. However, despite our efforts, unforeseen complexities emerged, leading us to realize that the framework might not fully meet our specific requirements because of its obsolescence . As a result, we faced the tough decision of discarding all our previous work and project foundation and starting anew working with a completely different chatbot framework. This setback proved to be particularly daunting as we had limited time available to complete the project successfully.
- Developing a natural chatbot by beginners
As each member was new to the realm of data science and machine learning, developing a natural chatbot became quite a challenge. Despite being newcomers to this domain, we were determined to learn and build a chatbot that could provide meaningful support to the sensitive target group in a short given time. In addition to the complexities of grasping data science concepts, we faced the unique task of designing a natural chatbot that could effectively communicate with users having mental health issues. This presented an extra layer of challenge, as our chatbot needed to include thorough research and exude empathy, compassion, and sensitivity while engaging with individuals dealing with emotional struggles.
- Time management and unexpected departure
As we neared the end and most critical phase of our project, we were met with an unforeseen challenge that tested our team’s resilience and dedication. One of our members had to take a sudden leave, leaving us with a looming deadline and an enormous workload. The departure of a team member at such a crucial stage meant that the remaining members had to step up and shoulder additional responsibilities to fill the gap demanding a collective effort to ensure the project’s successful delivery. Nevertheless, our team demonstrated commitment and perseverance, effectively overcoming all challenges to deliver a valuable chatbot application.