-
Eaaaaaaasy
Incentive
Amazons Oneclick is a nice way, to make people consume more. We wanted to take that gadget and turn use it for something sustainable and to make consume more reasonable for the environment, clearly the opposite of Amazons approach.
The idea
Easy Store, Sell, Safe should make people get rid of their unused items from their basements and storages. These storages can be anywhere, in an organisation, a private household or a company. The clue behind the idea is to make selling your things so easy and automated, that there are no restrains due to time or effort. Furthermore with RFID tags the program keeps track of your usage patterns and decides which products you should sell and reminds you about these. A built in Database about sustainability data keeps track of the products ecological footprint. In accordance to this the program puts more value on redistributing unused things or gives feedback about recycling measures for the product.
How I built it
The system is based on a Node.js server and a PhoneGap App-client. To support mobile usage, we used PhoneGap. Unfortunately, our team lost some members, so the original scale of the project was not realizable. It follows some ideas concerning the practical application of the idea, though, most of them are not implemented. With RFID scanners certain areas are defined. The program keeps track of the inflowing and outflowing items. These can either be transported in boxes as item collection or individually.
Database creation To lower the barrier to create a clear database of things stored in the basement, the Database creation must be easy and quick. We therefor use pictures. With Google image search and later with AI tracking we therefor derive all the information automatically from the picture, including title, description, average price etc. The user only needs to scan the RFID tag and take a photo to include the items in the database. During the creation phase already, the user should be informed about the environmental and economic value of his stored items.
Retrieving items The user can therefor check for the area, in which the items might be stored and can check, weather it is inside the storage or not. Furthermore, he can put his mobile phone onto the boxes and gets all the items inside the box presented on the screen. This is realized using NFC tags.
Keeping your storage lean Because the program can track all the uses of the stored items it can also identify potential items to be divested. Once a day the server checks for expiration dates of the items which are refreshed in case of the use of the item. Expired items are then presented to the user in the app and can be sold with just one klick. The user has the option though to put in a minimum price. If things are unsellable the app lowers the prices automatically or in the worst-case searches for recycling options to regain the invested resources. If the user refuses to sell selected items he is reminded of the ecological and/or economic benefits he can achieve by selling or recycling the product. The gathered information can therefor be used to create a database about the recycling potential in private households all around the world. This information could also be provided to recycling companies to actively collect recycling items. Valuable recourses in private households suddenly come accessible.
Accomplishments that we are proud of
We are proud, that we managed to include a wide range of APIs without huge amount of efforts. Due to the different selling platforms one can use, the RFID tag recognizer and the picture recognition APIs are necessary for communication.
What I learned
We learned to be flexible, even though teammates do not show up without noticing one in advance. Also we discovered how important a more in-depth planning is, even though one is put under pressure by a time limit.
What's next for Easy Store, Sell, Safe
After the Junction there is still a lot of implementation work to do. Besides implementing all the basic features and creating a design it would be crucial to develop a business model, even though we can clearly see a good potential to earn money seeing the app as an agent between recycling industry, Second-hand lovers and the major part of the society.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.