[I-Deer] Weeds Idea

I-Deer
The Business Model Canvas

Inspiration

When we worked on a farm, some of us even for some farmers did not know how to deal with several different weeds. Varieties weeds have different methods to control them, for example, the best way for the African Lovegrass is digging out. As for the Pampas grass, it need to spot-spray small plants, slash, burn or dig out larger plants and spray regrowth. In the fact, farmers controlling the weeds by their experiences or natural predict. which may cause a disaster their farm. Weeds Idea app can provide helpful and scientific advice for controlling weeds which from weeds expert guidance. In the future, we would install the app on drones to monitor the condition of weeds and control the AI machines, for example, cutting robot, to remove weeds automatically. This can dramatically reduce the cost of labor. Meanwhile, reduce the influence of the farm workers for the field. And it also remain the agriculture sustainability strategy of Tasmania(2015-2020)( FRDC annual report 2017).

What it does

There is intelligence distinguishing functions for weeds and provide some advice on how to control weeds.
Users can submit images to expand our database and get some rewards through funny activities.
Set the camera on a smart car or drone for intelligent weeding to reduce labor consumption.
Help the government to monitor weed disasters.

How we built it

First, we visited different farms and the visitor centers, the city council in the Huon Valley. Then we contacted MS Allyson Hughes who is the coordinator of Natural Resource Management understand the hazards of weeds. She told us that these three kinds of weeds including Serrated tussock, African feathergrass and African lovegrass cause the most serious hazards. Finally, we created a video recognition system to identify weeds and it can also provide some advice about how to control weeds.

Challenges we ran into

It's hard to find scientific advice about how to control weeds. Our team went to interview with the city council and visited weeds expert to get some help. It is also hard to design patterns for our app and making business strategy. Our group also have some technical challenges to overcome.

Use Python to download, cut and convert thousands of pictures on the internet automatically and all these images are converted into the same size and grayscales, which is easier for OpenCV to have a training about how to identify different weeds and improve recognition accuracy.
The recognition speed is too slow. The solution is increase the index of the stage.
For now, there is no smart scissors which link the app to remove weeds, so we designed a model scissors with a carton.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We designed web pages and apps for convenience. The camera can operate and recognize the weeds. The Arduino can also be used to drive the weeding scissors to cut weeds automatically. Users can easy to scan the weeds and get some advice from weed expert which is from our own database. the users can also have fun with the weed knowledge, for example, they can engage our competition "who is the royal of weeds"(upload weeds pictures nearby) in our Facebook group.

What we learned

We learned the five-year Tasmania plan and realize that sustainability is very important for the development of Tasmania.
Teamwork plays an important role in the UHack and everyone makes contribution on the project. We started form nothing and created an excellent app and website.
We are involved in all activities of UHack and we learned a lot form the presentation part. All the teams have good ideas which enable us to be more creative.
We learned how to run a business and how to create the business model canvas, which is very important for our future career.

What's next for Weeds Idea

Once Weeds Idea have enough weeds data in the database, we can install Weeds Idea on the automatic cars and drones. Drones can monitor the condition of weeds and automatically control the automatic cars to control weeds. This is a technical reform which can reduce labor cost. 'Make the world a better place.'