About the Project: Plant Pal 🌱
Inspiration
As first-year students at the University of Waterloo, we embarked on an exciting journey filled with new experiences, challenges, and opportunities. One such challenge was making our dorm rooms feel like home. Despite the vibrant social life and the thrill of meeting new people, our dorm rooms lacked a personal touch.
Indoor plants emerged as the perfect solution to breathe life into our dorms. They not only added a touch of greenery but also purified the air, reduced stress, and enhanced overall well-being.
Inspired by our personal experience, we built Plant Pal. Our project aims to tackle climate change, a pressing issue that threatens our planet. Shocking statistics reveal that deforestation alone contributes to around 10-15% of global greenhouse gas emissions. These emissions increase Earth's temperature, a trend that can be mitigated by planting more vegetation.
What We Learned
Throughout the development of Plant Pal, we learned a lot about the importance of indoor plants and their benefits. We also learned how to effectively use various programming languages, frameworks, libraries, and tools to build a web application. We gained valuable experience in backend development with Python and Flask, frontend development with HTML/CSS/JavaScript, and using Google Cloud Platform for AI services.
How We Built It
We used Python for backend development, including the Flask web framework for creating RESTful APIs. For frontend development, we used HTML/CSS/JavaScript to create the user interface and handle client-side interactions. We leveraged Google Cloud Platform for utilizing Google's Generative AI service to generate plant recommendations based on room conditions. We also used various tools like Visual Studio Code, Git, Postman, and Chrome Developer Tools for writing, debugging, tracking changes, testing API endpoints, and testing frontend code.
Challenges We Faced
One of the main challenges we faced was integrating the Generative AI service with our application. It required a good understanding of AI and machine learning concepts. Another challenge was creating a user-friendly interface that is easy to navigate and visually appealing. We also faced challenges in managing our project timeline and ensuring that all parts of the project were completed on time.
In conclusion, despite the challenges, we are proud of what we have achieved with Plant Pal. We believe that our project has the potential to make a significant impact on sustainable development goals and generative AI. We hope you will join us on this journey towards a greener future.
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