Latae

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  My original planning for what Latae could look like (diagram)

The name Latae is Latin for "automation"

Inspiration

There is a huge problem with people putting recyclable materials into the garbage, which creates unnecessary waste that could have been reused had they been placed in the recycling. The problem also occurs the other way around with people putting garbage into the recycling which is even more problematic because it then contaminates the legitimately recyclable materials.
One of the main reasons people choose to not bother sorting their waste and simply toss them into any bin they can find is one of convenience. people don't want to take the time and figure out what bin to put them in. This is where Latae comes in, where people can leave their waste and the disposal will be completely automated.

What it does

Latae is a hardware device that would have a camera, servo motor, an Arduino, and a computer which could be anything from a Raspberry Pi to a workstation desktop. The user would take their item, put it into an open compartment, and press a button. The door would then close and the user could go on their way as the machine does the rest of the work. The device would take an image of the deposited item, and get details about it through google cloud's vision ai. it would then use the information about the item to decide whether the item should go in the garbage or the recycling. This allows Latae to solve many issues of pollution. For example, the oceans would be cleaner without plastics which could have been recycled floating around, and the convenience may also prevent people from littering.

How I built it

I used an Arduino and built an Electron app.

Challenges I ran into

Having only started today (May 17, 2020), I didn't have the optimal amount of time to complete a working product. I also didn't have any servo motors available for me to use, which prevented me from completing the product to the extent that I wanted. As a result, I could only demo what I had and my concept.

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

This is my second hackathon where I have worked alone, which I am very proud of.

What I learned

I have learned many things at this hackathon. I have learned how to work with Arduinos, a bit on Electron app development, and I have also learned about the time required to build a hack.

What's next for Latae

This has the potential to be created into a working product, due to its simplicity. That would be its next step outside of hackathons.

Built With

• arduino
• electron
• google-cloud
• vision-ai