ReRoute — recycling sorting on Fire TV

Inspiration

What it does

How we built it

Challenges we ran into

Accomplishments that we're proud of

What we learned

What's next for ReRoute — recycling sorting on Fire TV

Inspiration

We noticed that many people are confused by local recycling rules, leading to high contamination rates. We wanted to use the large screen of a Fire TV to create an accessible guide for the entire household. Our goal was to make sustainable living simple through smart technology.

What it does

ReRoute allows users to scan or describe waste items to receive instant sorting instructions. The Fire TV app analyzes the item and determines if it should be recycled, composted, or trashed. It transforms the living room into a hub for environmental education.

How we built it

We developed the application using TypeScript to ensure type safety across our codebase. We used AWS Lambda to handle the backend logic and Amazon Comprehend to process the text descriptions of waste items. The boto3 library served as our primary interface for interacting with AWS services.

Challenges we ran into

We initially struggled with the latency between sending data from the Fire TV and receiving a response. We also had to optimize our UI to ensure it was readable on a television-based interface. Fine-tuning the NLP model to recognize specific types of plastics required significant iterative testing.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We are proud of how seamlessly we integrated Amazon Comprehend to provide accurate sorting feedback. We successfully managed to create a responsive experience that feels native to Fire TV. Our team built a functional prototype that is easy for all family members to navigate.

What we learned

We learned a lot about optimizing cloud-based workflows for large-screen hardware. We also gained deep experience in using natural language processing for niche domains like waste management. This project deepened our understanding of how to build serverless architectures with TypeScript.

What's next for ReRoute

We plan to integrate image recognition capabilities so users can simply point a camera at items. We want to add a database of local recycling guidelines based on zip codes. Our vision is to make ReRoute the ultimate tool for zero-waste households.

Built With

• amazon-comprehend
• amazon-fire-tv
• aws-lambda
• boto3
• reroute
• waste