This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Open-Source AI Challenge Week 1: Touch Grass I built Rootbound: Solitary Sprouts ,it is a cozy, low-pressure 3D web app made specifically for introverts who want to get outdoors without social anxiety(cause I'm an introvert myself)
It pairs you with a floating 3D Gourd/Blob companion that needs real-world nature to grow. To keep your blob happy, you step outside alone and complete peaceful, solo outdoor dares (like finding moss or river stones), play a nature-only word chain game, spin a 3D nature match minigame, or snap a photo of a real houseplant or garden sapling to heal your sprite!
Frontend & 3D Interactive UI: Built using Next.js (App Router), Tailwind CSS, and Three.js (@react-three/fiber & @react-three/drei) for the interactive floating 3D companion that distorts and glows when you complete quests.
Open-Source AI Vision: Uses open-weight vision models (like Gemma) on the backend API route (/api/sprite) to analyze uploaded plant photos, verifying foliage health and calculating XP boosts.
Database Layer: MongoDB Atlas stores player levels, sprite health, and live leaderboard scores in real-time.
Open innovation matters here because nature walks and outdoor activities are deeply personal. Running open-weight models locally or on lightweight open runtimes means users can verify their outdoor plant findings without up private location data or photos to closed corporate cloud servers. Plus, open-weight models mean zero API fees lol, allowing an offline-first companion that can run on trail walks with spotty internet!
N/A