SunSmartScheduler

💡 Inspiration

• Rise of childhood myopia due to lack of outdoor time.
  
• Health risks of excessive sun exposure in schools.
  
• WHO + AAO research: balanced outdoor activity protects vision.
  
• SunSmart guidelines: avoid peak UV hours.
  
• We wanted to help schools strike a balance using data + automation.
  

⚡ What it does

• 📅 Generates balanced timetables for schools.
  
• 👩‍🏫 Ensures daily outdoor sessions for each grade.
  
• 🌞 Avoids peak UV hours for safety.
  
• ⛅ Integrates daylight + local weather data.
  
• 📊 Exports easy-to-use CSV timetables for teachers/parents.
  

🛠️ How we built it

• Python (3.9+) → Core engine.
  
• Astral → Fetch sunrise/sunset times.
  
• pytz + timezonefinderL → Handle timezones.
  
• OR-Tools CP-SAT → Constraint optimization (e.g., max 3 outdoor classes in a row).
  
• CSV Export → Shareable schedules with enhanced console output.
  

🚧 Challenges

• 🌍 Handling timezone + daylight for different locations.
  
• ⛅ Integrating weather data into CP-SAT while keeping it efficient.
  
• 🐼 Pandas quirks + avoiding chained assignments.
  
• 🎛️ Balancing user inputs (grades, sections, classes/day) with flexibility.
  

🏆 Accomplishments

• ⚙️ Built an end-to-end scheduler in < hackathon timeframe.
  
• 🌦️ Integrated real weather data into scheduling optimizer.
  
• 👓 Designed a tool with public health impact:
  
  • Healthier eyes
    
  • Safer outdoor activity
    
  • Better learning environments
    

📚 What we learned

• 🧩 Constraint programming (CP-SAT) is powerful for real-world scheduling.
  
• 🌌 Astronomical + weather data can support social good.
  
• 👁️ Eye health research gave us new perspectives on wellbeing.
  
• 🧱 Clean data handling + modular design ensures scalability.
  

🚀 What’s next

• 🌤️ Add live UV index APIs for real-time risk adjustment.
  
• 📱 Build a web/mobile dashboard for admins.
  
• 🧠 Use ML models for smarter schedules (attendance + weather history).
  
• 👓 Track student myopia prevalence to validate long-term benefits.
  

Built With

• astral
• cp-sat
• pandas
• python