A team of Tennessee Tech computer science students are working on an AI-based navigation app to help visitors explore the region.
Recent Tech Graduate Wes Talley said YourTour is designed to help travelers discover unknown attractions on the way to a final destination. Talley said users can list their interests while signing up for the app, and it will suggest “detours” at nearby locations based on user interest. Talley said the idea came from teammate and app founder Garrett Hayes after his car broke down in Georgia.
“[Garrett] had to pull off an exit and kinda sit at a gas station, and the area he broke down in, he realized, is actually a really interesting area with lots of cool facts about it,” Talley said. “And he was like, ‘I never would’ve found out about this if it wasn’t for my car breaking down.’ So, he wanted to make an app to actually let you know about these areas while you were travelling.”
Talley said the app has not yet been released to the public, but a beta version is expected to come out in August. Talley said the full version of the app could be released as soon as January.
Talley said YourTour’s original version was developed over 36 hours at a Hackathon competition at Middle Tennessee State earlier this year. Talley said the unreleased version won third place at that competition, and later placed first at Tennessee Tech’s Eagle Works competition.
Talley said his team made the app development process smooth, but preparing a good presentation for competition judges proved to be more challenging.
“We had Benjamin Burchfield train us and coach us on the really hard business questions to make sure we were prepared for anything the judges were going to throw at us,” Talley said. “And that was one of the most beneficial things we did actually, was getting him to grill us on the harder questions he’s never asked us before and what he would ask if he were a judge.”
Talley said the first round of Eagle Works was a quick pitch in front of a panel of judges. Talley said his team presented the app several times during the competition, which would ultimately lead to their first place finish.
“Building up to the very last one, [the presentations] got better and better, and we felt more confident with each one,” Talley said. “I think that’s one of the key factors as to why we won, because we were extremely confident and secure in what we were doing. We knew that it was a solid product, and we were just extremely happy to get it forward.”
Talley said the final presentation was for around 100 people and a five judge panel. The YourTour team won the grand prize of $10,000 at Eagle Works.
Talley said he was joined by Nate Dunlap, Johnny Mac Brentlinger, and Quinn Morrison on the YourTour presentations. Talley said Garrett Hayes and Landon Crabtree, who graduated in December, were also a part of the team.
