SnackSnap - recycle to feed your pet

SnackSnap is an iOS app leveraging Gemini's ML image recognition to verify recycling. Snap a picture while recycling to earn snacks to feed your digital pet. As the pet grows, carbon waste is reduced.

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Inspiration

Let's be honest. Sometimes, we have a paper cup, and we look at both the trash can and the recycling bin. We might throw the paper cup away in the trash because the recycling is just a little further. I'm definitely a culprit.

Our team set out to invent a fun perception of recycling by creating a digital pet that can only be cared for through recycling verified by Gemini's ML image recognition.

Something as simple as a tiny pet, backed by the complexity of Gemini, makes me take that extra step to throw away that paper cup into the recycling bin—to make sure my pet survives and keeps the world green.

What it does

Take a photo of yourself recycling an item, and using image recognition, Gemini checks if it is a valid photo. After a successful photo, you can feed your digital pet a ton of snacks making your pet get progressively get bigger and bigger...

How we built it

We began sketching each page to track the user's potential dopamine flow. Usually, recycling is seen as an inconvenience, especially since they are outnumbered by regular trashcans 2-to-1. We wanted the users to associate with recycling positively, so we created a pet for them to take care of. This emotional investment changes the idea of recycling from a burden to an opportunity to care for your digital pet.

Challenges we ran into

Integrating Gemini API was difficult at the start, but it was smooth the second time we tried. Easily viewable color scheme. Staying awake.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

'Baby Chester' turning out as a cute pet The quick start to building SnackSnap making the rest of the days less stressful.

What we learned

Shipping Fast!!! Pushing the limits of getting deep work done. The excitement of working with Gemini. Working with each other's strengths. Trust in each other.

What's next for SnackSnap

Your pet can have babies. Discover new verticals. Future integration into spatial computing where there is virtually no friction for the user and we can auto-track their recycling activity.

Built With

  • firebase
  • firebasestorage
  • gemini-1.5-pro
  • googlegenerativeai
  • swift
  • swiftui
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