- January 8, 2025
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The Out-of-Door Academy student Manav Pulluru was first attracted to app development the same way as many other teenagers.
His older brother, Akash Pulluru, developed apps in high school, and Pulluru, who plays video games like Fortnite, Elden Ring and Apex Legends, said he always has been interested in how they work.
After exploring the "fun" side of app development — he made a blackjack game as one of his first experiments with Python, a general-purpose programming language — Pulluru has shifted his focus to making a positive impact.
The ODA junior has spent much of the past year working on a project called SafeHaven AI, an app that helps people aged 65+ assess their risk of falling and learn how they can prevent it.
Pulluru partnered with family friend Ashni Singh, a ninth grader at Choate Rosemary Hall in San Francisco, California on the project, and the two were recognized for their efforts last month by winning the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for Florida’s 16th District.
The Congressional App Challenge was created by the U.S. House of Representatives in 2015 as a way to encourage innovation in computer science — a rapidly growing industry. Florida Congressman Vern Buchanan visited ODA to recognize Pulluru with the award Dec. 16.
“I am very impressed and heartened to see this young student using his abilities to help our aging population,” Buchanan said in a press release.“Falls are the leading cause of injury for adults ages 65 and older, with over 14 million older adults reporting a fall every year. With nearly two hundred thousand seniors in my district and millions throughout the state of Florida, this app has the potential to help lower these risks and keep people safe.”
Pulluru’s inspiration for the app was personal.
His nonagenarian great-grandfather suffered a fall in his home in India in 2020 and fractured his hip, leaving him bedridden and in need of constant assistance.
His great-grandfather, Anand Rao Chalimeda, eventually recovered from the fall, but many elderly people don’t have the same fortune.
Pulluru said he discovered that Singh had a similar experience with her grandfather when the two spent some time together this past summer.
“Once we realized that, we were like, ‘We should do something about this,’” Pulluru said. “This could be a great thing that could be out there.”
Pulluru said he credits a Python class he took at ODA that helped spark his inspiration for computer programming, and helped him learn beyond the basics.
“We’ve tried to intentionally develop a service-centered STEM program where our students are not only learning content, but learning how to apply it to solve real-world problems,” said Caitlyn Dixon, the director of STEM at ODA. “I think Manav’s app that he designed is a great example of how this culture is continuing to grow and develop here, from our marine science students learning about marine ecosystem remediation through the creation and installation of vertical oyster gardens to developing an AI-powered app to keep our family members safe in a community that has a large elderly population.”
SafeHaven AI screens for fall risks by asking its users doctor-approved questions, helps assess the living environment of the user with image recognition software and educates seniors about some of the common ways to prevent falls.
“Most people, they just play it off,” Pulluru said of elderly people often overlooking fall risks. “It’s your home, right? But it’s a very impactful thing because studies show that at home is where the biggest risk is. Like, the floor is wet, you slip and there’s nothing to grab on to.”
According to a report by Raju Vaishya and Abhishek Vaish in the Indian Journal of Orthopaedics, elderly people falling are ‘on the rise and taking the shape of an epidemic’ and ‘prevention of these falls is far better than the management.’
Developing SafeHaven AI took Pulluru and Singh between five-to-six months and their work is still ongoing, with refining needed on the image-recognition portion of the app.
Winning the Congressional App Challenge should make those efforts easier.
SafeHaven AI will be featured on House.gov for one year and CongressionalAppChallenge.us for the ‘foreseeable future,’ according to a press release.
It can currently be found at safe-haven-tan.vercel.app.
Pulluru will also receive waived copyright application fees through the Artistic Recognition for Talented Students Act.
And the encouragement of winning an award doesn’t hurt, either.
“When you’re a kid and you see a website or see a game, you don’t know what’s actually behind it,” he said. “Like how am I able to swing this sword in a game? How am I able to do this thing? It’s just awesome to see how it works. It’s something I really enjoy.”
