REALEATY

Inspiration

I have been a foodie all my life and love to try new dishes and cuisines! But, sometimes I dont get what i thought i ordered. Being a techie as well, I always wondered how technology could enhance a restaurant experience. Hence, Food + Tech has helped me solve a problem which I believe can change the way people order food and make their eating experience richer! Another issue I have seen many a times is asking the ingredients/allergies with the menu items. Quite often, staff would not know the details, and printing it in a traditional menu would convert it into a textbook! Given that smart phones are so powerful today and with the help of Amazon Sumerian, most people will be able to have this experience as there is no extra gadgets required!

What it does

Solves the below problems i. We know what we re eating and not surprised when the item lands on the table ii. Any allergies are clearly mentioned removing any doubts for people with food restrictions iii. A better understanding of the quantity of the item iv. We dont need to touch dirty menus (for cleanliness freaks!)

The application recreates the process of the basic, most important and the first step in a restaurant, "Looking at the menu and deciding what to eat". Instead of using printouts/book to see what to order, the app shows a 3D render of the item showing us exactly what we get when we order. All the person needs to have is a relatively new smartphone and an internet connection. Eventually my plan is to have a NFC chip/QR code on a table and when the phone is taken near it, the app opens up. Once the app opens, the user will be able to see a simple menu, on tapping the required options, the user will see the item and will show its details as below i. Name ii. Contains iii. Allergy iv. Food type The user can also move the phone to take a closer look at the item in detail.

How I built it

Using Amazon Sumerian and Android Studio, I built an AR app. The app has a easy-to-understand layout and using entities and state machine behaviors, some html and java script, I was able to build the app

Challenges I ran into

As i wanted this to be a real life experience, I had to 3D scan real food prepared at home. Not having the tech to accomplish the same, i used an App in the phone to scan the 3D images. Getting the right images took a lot of effort, with the right lighting, textures and general tone. Also implementing the camera angles for the AR view was a bit challenging in both the end user's perspective and while building the app

Accomplishments that I'm proud of

Executing an idea into reality. Imagining the user experience and how to make something simple yet important. Building the same with work, holidays and family stuff going on in parallel.

What I learned

There is an ocean worth of stuff to learn in the AR space and that Amazon Sumerian is sitting on the threshold of becoming a unique software which can solve problems for the masses with just a browser and a phone!

What's next for REALEATY

Heaps! Have lot of ideas

• Given my experience in web development, I want to make a reusable solution with a back end to store data. One app for multiple restaurants!!!
• Eventually, people should be able to order food from the app by not seeing the image of the item but the item itself, be it in a restaurant or from their home
• Save people from having allergy issues by getting exactly the right information about what is present in the item
• Allow the user to see the exact quantity (by placing the scaled version on a table using AR) of the item being served, so that food doesn't get wasted

Built With

• 3d-models
• android-studio
• html
• javascript
• sumerain