lost and found

Lost & Found UMT: Find it Fast, Claim it Easy.

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Inspiration

Losing stuff on campus is like a daily ritual — from ID cards to water bottles, students constantly misplace their things. Watching friends struggle to find lost items inspired me to build a central hub where everyone can post, search, and claim items easily. Why wander aimlessly when a simple app can save the day?

What I Learned

  • How to implement secure user authentication using university emails
  • Building real-time chat for direct communication between finders and claimers
  • Working with image uploads and AI-powered similarity matching to help connect lost and found items
  • Creating a responsive UI that works smoothly on both phones and desktops
  • Managing complex claim workflows and admin moderation to keep things fair and trustworthy

How I Built It

  • Frontend: React with Tailwind CSS for clean and mobile-friendly design
  • Backend: Node.js and Express handling APIs and real-time Socket.io chat
  • Database: MongoDB storing users, items, claims, and notifications
  • AI: Python-based image similarity integration to recommend potential matches
  • Deployment: Hosted on AWS with automated CI/CD pipelines for smooth updates

Challenges

  • Training the AI to recognize similar items despite different photo angles and lighting
  • Ensuring the real-time chat and notification system stayed fast and reliable under heavy use
  • Designing a claim system that prevents fraud but stays user-friendly
  • Balancing feature-richness with simplicity to avoid overwhelming users

Building this project was a mix of caffeine, debugging, and satisfaction — turning campus chaos into order, one lost item at a time.

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