Project Cleanup

Inspiration

In a disposable society riddled by overconsumption and waste, we were eager to create a product that makes going green exciting for all users. With this goal in mind, Project Cleanup was born! Trash pickup isn't typically an activity most people do for fun, but is now an activity that can bring users together and simultaneously help to clean up our Earth, piece-by-piece.

What it does

Project cleanup is a web app that prompts the user to take photos of the garbage they find. Through image classification, AI detects and categorizes the type of trash that is in the photo. Based on the amount of trash users pickup and find, they are given points and are ranked accordingly on the leaderboard.

How we built it

We used React Native and Expo as frameworks to develop the application. In order to personalize and create user accounts, we used MongoDB. For image classification, we primarily used TensorFlow and the Teachable Machine model to create a customized machine learning model that can detect the type of garbage through object classification. We used a Kaggle dataset in order to train the model and improve the app's accuracy.

Challenges we ran into

One of the largest challenges we ran into was the difficulties of trying to debug the errors that came with adding in all the necessary dependencies of the project. At times, it was difficult to align different components of the project in order for the result to work seamlessly as a whole.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

One of the largest accomplishments of this project was learning how to understand TensorFlow and successfully implement the image classification machine learning model without extensive prior knowledge regarding artificial intelligence.

What we learned

We learned about the intricacies of implementing a machine learning model, how to efficiently and accurately train the model, and how to create a web app. We also learned how navigate combining different softwares to create a successful final product.

What's next for Project Cleanup

We hope to expand Project Cleanup beyond trash pickup and make other forms of environmentalism into an enjoyable experience for users. This could include expanding to food waste as well; advising users on how to reduce the food waste they have and provide ways to use the leftovers. We could continue the game aspect by awarding points for repurposing waste, and incentivize users to continue their positive green impact.