Inspiration
Whenever I go to the beach my favorite activity to do is seashell picking. I love finding smooth white shells or colorful patterned fan shapes or very rarely, catching a spiral one. It may seem like a peaceful task but don't be fooled: seashell picking is very hard. Well, at least for me. Luck comes and go and it seems that all luck flows to my sister. She always finds the spiral ones. We both love catching shells and sometimes it feels like there are still living beings inhabiting these empty homes. The waves move fast and the second you think you grabbed a shell, the water comes in; the shell back to it's journey in the ocean and sandy waves fogging up what was once the clear, calm waters. Then, the shell picking cycle happens all over again: I thought I caught a shell and it washed away but the hope that I catch one is what keeps me moving.
Seashells going through what could possibly be a long journey up the coast has always been a thought on my mind. As someone with horrible athletic skills and can barely swim, I wonder what they've gone through just to come up to the shore. I think about the strong waves on the surface and wonder how powerful they feel below. I think about what kind of rocks, coral, or creature that created a scar on its body. I think about what obstacles mankind created for it and how many people picked my shell and threw it back in its abyss thinking the shell just wasn't good enough. I wonder what it ate thinking about how it affected the color on their body. I wonder if there's still someone living in there which I usually hesitate to look at cause I'm scared of bugs.
I wonder if people think the way I do too when they do this and that's why I decided to build this website. To answer my questions with possibilities that'll attempt to calm curiousity.
What it does
By uploading an image or camera scanning your chosen seashell, my learning algorithm will be able to detect your shell and describe the possible journey that the shell has gone through. This algorithm will be informative: telling you about possible species related to it, explaining color, identifiying the region of your shell, and the possible inhabitants of your shell.
How we built it
I built the machine learning algorithm for object detection using YOLO, Open CV, and Roboflow. I used Roboflow for easier data transfer and understanding categorization for object detection. For my front-end, I used Next.js and deployed it using Netlify.
Challenges we ran into
Some challenges I struggled with were learning how to do object detection. This was my first time officially using machine learning and I won't lie, it was incredibly difficult. I will definitely be using a tutorial to do object detection for something simple like circles vs. rectangles or differentiating coins.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
I was opened to a lot more resources that I didn't know of and for that I'm very grateful. I didn't know Devpost was a thing or about the CS Girlies Discord and the group in general. I will definitely look more into these opprotunities :)
What we learned
Definitely will think about my idea beforehand and devote all my time if I have a short amount of time to do my project.
What's next for Seashell Story: Treasures Untold
I will finish it because sadly I didn't. I did learn lots tho and hopefully will send it through Linkedin. Ty for the hackathon :))
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