🌍 Inspiration
In California, families of adults with developmental disabilities can wait up to two years for an answer as simple as:
“Can my child get help?”
We imagined Maria, a working mother caring for her adult son Kevin, spending nights on hold or navigating endless forms.
We wanted to give families like hers what the system couldn’t: clarity and hope, instantly.
💙 What it does
Abby is AbilityPath’s 24/7, voice-enabled and multi-language digital front door, embedded on the main website.
It allows families to:
- Screen eligibility instantly without storing sensitive data
- Match with suitable programs based on age, needs, and location
- Capture chat history for staff review and model improvement
- Access FAQs in multiple languages anytime
What once required weeks of phone calls and emails now takes under five minutes — anytime, anywhere.
⚙️ How we built it
We used a low-code / no-code architecture to ensure sustainability and accessibility for non-technical staff.
Tech stack:
- Dialogflow CX for conversational logic and NLU
- Dialogflow playbook for real-time chat storage and analytics
- Google Cloud Functions for backend integration
- Browser Speech-to-Text API for voice input
- Multilingual NLU for English, Chinese and Spanish
🧩 Challenges we ran into
- Designing a warm, intuitive experience for non–tech-savvy families
- Integrating voice input and multi-language support smoothly
- Building a secure conversation log that supports evaluation while protecting privacy
- Maintaining the balance between automation and empathy
🏆 Accomplishments that we're proud of
- Built a functional prototype within 3 days
- Reduced the intake process from weeks to under five minutes
- Designed an AI experience that feels human, compassionate, and trustworthy
📚 What we learned
- Accessibility is not a feature — it’s the foundation.
- Families value tone and clarity as much as accuracy.
- Human-centered design must coexist with technical scalability.
🚀 What's next for AbilityPath_Chatbox
- Expand program coverage beyond Youth and Adult Services
- Add Spanish voice support and additional languages (Chinese)
- Integrate automated scheduling and document upload
Abby — Care that never clocks out.
Built With
- conversational-ai
- conversational-phone-gateway
- dialogueflow-cx
- flask
- langchain
- langgraph
- nlu
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.