Inspiration
We all have been in this situation: class or work ends, we are hungry and want to get food; we come to some dining area and have hour-long wait times. Naturally, this makes anyone frustrated and upset. This example strongly correlates with the situation at Virginia Tech right now. All necessary information is distributed among several apps and websites, which are hard to find and challenging to use. Besides, the wait time cannot be predicted, and 30-minute break intervals seem insufficient to get food without knowing where to go. That's why we made Chow Time.
What it does
Our dining app at Virginia Tech is designed to revolutionize the way you dine on campus. Say goodbye to long wait times and multiple apps. With our app, you will have the power to make informed decisions and plan your meals efficiently. The app combines the abilities of all existing dining apps and even more. For example, the app features Your account balance, all dining halls open and available, and wait time estimated using AI technology that will scan every dining hall for the number of people there and suggest which dining hall to use for the fastest experience.
How we built it
The two main languages are Python and Swift. Python was used for the AI model with real-time video input and the number of people in the frame as the output. It uploads data every second to Firebase(Google Cloud), after which this data is retrieved by the app written in Swift and displayed in a user-friendly way
Challenges we ran into
One of the main challenges we ran into was the UI. It took a long time to connect to Firebase service with the app, and after 7 PM on Saturday, we ran out of reads on the cloud service due to heavy testing, so we had to create a new cloud account and link it to the app.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We built a working app in one day with a proper backend system and an aesthetic front-end system with the usage of AI detection technology and cloud services.
What we learned
We learned about the Firebase service, how to use it and implement it in our projects, looked deep into app development using Swift, and understood how sophisticated AI technology works.
What's next for Chow Time
Next, we plan to link all dining hall schedules with the cloud service by processing data from VT's dining websites. Besides that, the available account balances will be fetched from the Hokie Wallet so every user can see the availability and budget their spending. And the last and final part would be to install hardware in dining halls to support the app and AI model with real-time data of the people present.
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