Green Vision

Inspiration

With the prevalence of climate change, the race to find solutions to global warming is a constant challenge. With our knowledge of the state of the environment, we wondered what solutions we can come up with to combat this phenomenon. Small scale solutions are more likely to be enacted by everyday citizens which is why we decided to create "Green Vision".

What it does

"Green Vision" is a wearable plastic bottle waste detector that alerts the wearer to the plastic waste around them in the hopes that they will make an effort to recycle the bottles or clean them up. When the consumer comes into contact with a plastic bottle while wearing "Green Vision", the device will buzz until the water bottle is out of view. The buzzing will not only alert the user to the prevalence of harmful resource usage but will act as a nuisance until the user is forced to rid the plastic waste

How we built it

The prototype for "Green Vision" was built using a Raspberry Pi, camera, monitor, and Arduino active buzzer. The Raspberry Pi acted as the central nerve for the project and allowed for all the components to function and interact. Images from the camera were projected onto a monitor which allowed for the tracking of water bottles and other objects in the camera frame. If water bottles were detected within this frame, the buzzer would emit a loud noise until the water bottle was removed from the image frame.

Challenges we ran into

At the beginning of this event, our goal was to create an environmentally beneficial product. To achieve this goal, various project ideations were executed with fail. After scrapping our projects various times due to hardware issues (lack of, improper functioning), we were finally able to create our final product. The constant failure of multiple projects had an adverse effect on our morale which became our greatest challenge. However, the willingness of all team members to create a beneficial and successful product allowed us to overcome this challenge.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Our team was completely comprised of members who were either in the Mechanical Engineering or Data Science field and we were not familiar with the hardware/software used for "Green Vision" therefore we were forced to learn on the spot. Even with this challenge, we were able to create a finished product that we are proud of.

What we learned

In addition to learning new software and hardware such as Raspberry Pi and AI, we learned that not all projects come to fruition the first time around. Also, despite how much we wanted some of our ideas to work, we learned that at some point, it is much more effective and beneficial if we take the project and head in a new direction.

What's next for Green Vision

To take "Green Vision" to the next level, the product must be made for wear-ability so that consumers are able to easily utilize it. In addition, the AI recognition on the device must be improved so that incorporating the software into smartphones and devices is a viable option. Once the product has completed the improvement phase, it can then be marketed locally to people in California to establish an economic basis. With this, we will be able to expand globally. Simultaneously, we will aim to ensure that the accessibility of the product is emphasized so that there is greater awareness among the general population.