GCET Connect - College Assistant Chatbot

GCET Connect is an intelligent chatbot application designed specifically for Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology (GCET) students. It provides instant access to college-related information, helping students navigate academic resources, campus facilities, and administrative procedures.

Features

• AI-Powered Responses: Utilizes Google's Gemini AI model for natural language understanding and contextual responses
• College-Specific Knowledge: Pre-programmed with GCET-specific information about departments, facilities, schedules, and procedures
• Persistent Chat History: Saves conversation history using Room database
• Modern UI: Built with Jetpack Compose featuring animations, adaptive layouts, and material design principles
• Suggestion Chips: Quick access to common queries through interactive suggestion chips
• Dual Response System: Uses both pre-defined answers for common queries and AI-generated responses for unique questions

Screenshots

[Screenshots will be added here]

Technical Architecture

Key Components

• UI Layer: Jetpack Compose-based interface with animations
• ViewModel Layer: Manages application state and business logic
• Data Layer: Room database for message persistence
• AI Integration: Google Generative AI (Gemini) for intelligent responses

Libraries Used

• Jetpack Compose: Modern Android UI toolkit
• Room: Database persistence
• Lottie: Animation library for enhanced UI elements
• Google Generative AI: AI service integration
• Kotlin Coroutines: Asynchronous programming
• Lifecycle Components: For managing UI-related data

Implementation Details

Main Components

1. ChatViewModel.kt: Core component that manages the chat logic, message persistence, query processing, and AI integration
2. ChatPage.kt: UI implementation of the chat interface with animations and interactions
3. CustomQueries.kt: Repository of pre-defined college-specific answers
4. MainActivity.kt: Navigation control and application entry point
5. SplashScreen.kt: Animated introduction screen

Response System

The app uses a dual approach for answering questions:

1. Pattern Matching: For common college-specific queries, the app uses a similarity-based algorithm to match questions with pre-defined answers
2. AI Generation: When no match is found, the query is sent to the Gemini AI model with specific context and rules

Setup Instructions

Prerequisites

• Android Studio Arctic Fox or newer
• Minimum SDK: 24 (Android 7.0)
• Target SDK: 34 (Android 14)
• Google AI API key for Gemini

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository
2. Open the project in Android Studio
3. Add your Gemini API key in Constants.kt
4. Sync Gradle and run the application

Configuration

The application can be customized by:

1. Modifying pre-defined answers in CustomQueries.kt
2. Adjusting AI context and rules in ChatViewModel.kt
3. Customizing UI elements in ChatPage.kt

Contributing

Contributions to improve GCET Connect are welcome. Please follow these steps:

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
3. Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some amazing feature')
4. Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
5. Open a Pull Request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see below for details:

MIT License

Copyright (c) 2024

Acknowledgements

• Galgotias College of Engineering and Technology for inspiration
• Google for the Generative AI API
• Android Jetpack team for Compose

API Key Setup

This application uses the Gemini API. To run the app, you need to set up your own API key:

1. Create a copy of gradle.properties.example and name it gradle.properties
2. Replace your_gemini_api_key_here with your actual Gemini API key
3. Build and run the application

Note for Collaborators

The gradle.properties file is excluded from Git to keep API keys secure. Never commit this file to version control.