A CMSC434 Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) project for efficient, user-friendly kitchen management and meal planning.
Kitchen Kompanion is an Android app designed and developed as part of a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) course. Our goal is to make kitchen life easier, more organized, and fun by focusing on a user-centered design.
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User-Centered Approach:
- We did informal user interviews and observations to identify pain in mango kitchens (e.g., goods, food waste, difficulty walking fixtures).
- The most important tabs in the app (home, inventory, shopping, food, settings) reflect real user features and mental models.
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Interaction Design:
- Large, clearly marked buttons and intuitive navigation reduce barriers to users for the first time.
- Touch-friendly design, swipe/roller functions and visual feedback are used for even interaction.
- Dialogue and confirmation (e.g., add/remove items) prevents accidental data loss.
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Usability & Learnability:
- Onboarding is minimal: Users can immediately add items and start tracking.
- Regular iconography and color coding help users to distinguish quickly between categories and features.
- East and back navigation are always available to reduce the user's disappointment.
| Tab | HCI-Focused Description |
|---|---|
| Home | Simple dashboard for fast access, summary of expiring/expired items, and low-stock alerts |
| Inventory | Categorized, scrollable lists with search; add/edit/delete via dialogs; visual item cues |
| Shopping | Easy list creation with quantity and price, bulk actions, feedback for completed purchases |
| Recipes | Visual recipe cards, ingredient lists, dietary tags, and one-tap add-to-shopping-list |
| Settings | Personalize your name/profile; designed for future preference options |
- Platform: Android
- Language: Kotlin
- Clone the repository:
git clone https://github.com/Kitchen-Kompanion/kitchen-app - Open in Android Studio
- Build and run on your device or emulator
- Robert Estan
- Kyumin Hwang
- Sueun Cho
- Brandon Chen