Inspiration
As international students at the University of Leeds, we realized that grocery shopping in a new country is often a "blurry" and dangerous experience. For the millions living with allergies or strict dietary restrictions, reading tiny, complex labels in a crowded grocery aisle isn't just a chore—it’s a health risk. We saw how "Health-Washing" hides allergens and ultra-processed additives behind flashy marketing like "High Protein" or "Natural" stickers. We were inspired to build ClearLens AI to give our community 20/20 vision, moving from corporate confusion to a safe, community-verified truth where everyone can shop with confidence
What it does
ClearLens AI is a multimodal health advocate that decodes the complexity of the food industry:
The Truth Decoder: Scans barcodes to translate chemical names into "Community English," explaining the "Why" behind every additive.
Community Trust Shield: A "Flag & Vouch" system where users share biological verifications to rewire trust.
Autonomous Bio-Logger: A conversational assistant named Buddy that logs meals through natural language and calculates calories instantly.
Bio-Chef Intelligence: Suggests healthy, UPF-free recipes based on a user's scanned items and their specific dietary profile (e.g., Low Sugar, Nut-Free).
How we built it
We built ClearLens AI using a modern, scalable stack designed for speed and intelligence:
Intelligence: Gemini 1.5 Flash powers our multimodal scanning and natural language processing.
Frontend: A responsive Streamlit dashboard for real-time tracking and chat interaction.
Backend: FastAPI and SQLite manage our community database of vouches, flags, and daily logs.
Logic: Complex system prompting ensures Buddy respects strict biological guardrails while providing personalized coaching.
Challenges we ran into
Building a "Frictionless" experience meant overcoming several hurdles:
UI/UX Vibe: We struggled with CSS conflicts in our dark theme, initially resulting in invisible text for our scan history. We resolved this by forcing high-contrast styles to ensure visibility for all users.
Autonomous Logging: Designing the logic for the AI to understand "I just ate this" and automatically calculate and save data to the database required careful integration between NLP and our SQLite backend.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We are incredibly proud of creating a tool that actually rewires community trust. Moving beyond a simple calorie counter, we developed a Bio-Quality Index that prioritizes food quality (UPF-free) over quantity. Seeing our "Flag & Vouch" system in action-where one student's discovery helps the whole community is our biggest win.
What we learned
We learned that "Systems Rebooted" isn't just about better code; it's about better communication. We discovered how to use Generative AI to bridge the gap between scientific data and everyday nutritional literacy, making health accessible to everyone regardless of their background.
What's next for ClearLens AI
We plan to expand ClearLens AI by partnering with local Leeds food banks and student co-ops to provide personalized meal kits based on real-time inventory. Our ultimate goal is to turn ClearLens AI into a global standard for food transparency-one community scan at a time.
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