peculiar grass touching tech

tell your friends about it!
touching grass!
nick and sam (pictured)

Inspiration

The constant hum of the library, the glow of screens late into the night – we, a group of college students ourselves, were all too familiar with the insular nature of college life. Witnessing the toll it took on our well-being and sense of connection, we craved a way to nudge our peers back outside. Inspired by the simple act of stepping onto the grass and feeling the sun on our skin, we envisioned an app that gamifies the outdoors, transforming "touching grass" from a joke into a source of stress relief, social connection, and a renewed appreciation for the natural world.

What it does

Our app utilizes your device's camera to detect if you are 1) outside on the grass and 2) touching or petting it. The longer you pet grass, the more points you get!

How we built it

We used React Native, a JavaScript-based UI framework for iOS and Android apps. We used TensorFlowJS for the hand pose model and Google Gemini to figure out if there was grass in the image. We also built a demo web version that is based on React.

Challenges we ran into

The main challenge we ran into was learning how to use react-native and set up our environments. Neither of us have built mobile apps before, so there was a high learning curve in getting started. It was also difficult to get existing TensorFlow models and rendering software to play nicely with react-native.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

In order to test our app, we had to become bona fide "grass-touchers" across every inch of the UCLA campus. We swapped the crowded, stale air of Pauley Pavilion for fresh breezes, ditched the phone glow for real sunshine – all in the name of science (and getting some Vitamin D, let's be honest).

What's next for peculiar touching grass tech?

We're on a mission to unleash a global army of grass touchers! We hope that students across the world will be encouraged to go outside, enjoy nature, and compete with their friends for the title of "Top Turf Titan." It's time to ditch the digital and embrace the delightful!