A future where technology seamlessly integrates into everyday life was the stuff of fiction just a few decades ago. But recent advancements in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are turning fantasy into fact, transforming the way we interact with tech forever.
Students of our Bachelor in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence are on the cutting edge of this innovation wave. Inspired by their learnings, three of them drew on their collective expertise to develop a revolutionary solution that takes care of repetitive tasks, freeing up more time for creativity, exploration and meaningful connections.
Inspired by progress
Diego Sanmartin, Isabel de Valenzuela and Laura Cuellar came together to pursue an idea: to create a virtual assistant powered by AI. “We wanted to develop a virtual assistant that not only provided essential information but also played a role in making each user’s day more enjoyable and productive,” they told us. What they didn’t know was that they were embarking on a long, winding journey, filled with unique challenges but balanced by numerous opportunities to learn.
The concept was inspired by Diego, Isabel and Laura’s desire to test the limits of AI and its utility in everyday life. They wanted to see how this technology’s unlimited potential could be applied to optimize daily tasks—and what this could mean for our efficiency, performance and experience overall.
To accomplish this, the students decided to integrate AI and robotics into building a powerful, dedicated personal assistant with a wide range of capabilities that streamline users’ day-to-day routines in a variety of ways. They called it Luna.
Start and end your day with AI
Luna is a multifaceted, all-in-one virtual assistant designed to elevate everyday experiences. “The goal was to blend technology and user-centric design to offer a holistic and enriching start and end to each day.” And the team managed to do just that, developing an innovative solution with the capacity to automate the mundane.
Luna is armed with an array of functionalities to make this possible, including:
- Calendar integration: Luna helps you manage your schedule by seamlessly syncing with your personal calendar to provide up-to-the-minute updates on class times, group meetings, event itineraries and more.
- News delivery: With Luna, you can keep up with the latest news by receiving periodic news updates on your mobile device throughout the day.
- Weather updates: What will you wear today? And will you get to your appointment on time? Using your unique IP address, Luna is able to provide you with accurate, tailored weather forecasts that take the hassle out of decision-making.
- Musical recommendations: Luna uses your preferences to create personalized playlists for your workday, ensuring immediate access to your favorite singles, artists or bands.
Animating Luna
For Diego, Isabel and Laura, a key priority was delivering all these capabilities in a user-friendly way. Doing so required a blend of various technologies, perfected to guarantee a seamless experience.
Python provided the building blocks for the entire project. One of the most popular programming languages today, its in-built flexibility and extensive libraries offered the right infrastructure for Luna’s AI, API and other functionalities.
The team turned to Streamlit for Luna’s user interface (UI) design. By using this Python library, they were able to build web apps with minimal code, developing an attractive, interactive and responsive UI in the process.
To give Luna its AI powers, they leveraged the OpenAI API, utilizing one of the most powerful AI systems to date. This integration turns Luna into a skilled conversationalist, capable of “understanding and generating human-like responses.”
Several other APIs were also used to provide different functions, including the Spotify API which drives musical recommendations, as well as the weather and localization APIs behind Luna’s weather forecasting abilities.
From fantasy to fact
Luna was created at the IE Robotics & AI Lab, with the expert support provided by the IE Robotics & AI Club. Diego—one of the club’s co-founders and its incumbent president—proved to be a valuable overall supervisor and guide throughout the design and development process.
Similarly, other team members played an important role: Isabel tackled news and weather integrations as well as Luna’s UI, while Laura shouldered the calendar and music integration load. All agree that collaboration was the secret to their success.
“Teamwork was instrumental in overcoming challenges, sharing insights and integrating diverse functionalities seamlessly.” One of these challenges was the learning curve they experienced due to differing levels of familiarity with the technologies involved. This became particularly obvious when they started the API integration process and ran into some compatibility issues.
However, Diego, Isabel and Laura were able to turn the difficult moment into a win, just through collaboration. “This challenge not only resolved technical issues but also fostered a dynamic learning environment, allowing us to enhance our proficiency with new tools and APIs.”
Schedule the future with Luna
The future looks bright for Luna. Recently, the team launched a new chat function that doesn’t just improve the UI, but saves a history of user interactions and preferences to offer more targeted suggestions. They’ve also begun working on upcoming versions that incorporate advanced techniques like mood detection for appropriate responses and greater personalization.
Luna started out as a simple dream to explore AI, but it’s turned into an effective solution that puts IE University’s innovative spirit on the map. What’s more, it’s just one of the many amazing projects coming out of the IE Robotics & AI Club and our student body as a whole. We can’t wait to see what they’ll dream up next!
Check out all the project specs on GitHub.