About ZeroWaste
Inspiration
Every day, restaurants throw away food that is still good to eat. At the same time, many homeless people don’t have enough to eat. We wanted to build something that connects these two problems. Our idea was:
“What if AI could call restaurants and turn extra food into meals for people who need them?”
How We Built It
- AI Voice Calls: We used VAPI AI to automatically call restaurants and ask if they have food to donate.
- Python Script: A file called
main.pyruns the calls and sends the results. - Server: A Node.js + Express server (
server.js) saves the donation details like what food is available, when it can be picked up, and where.
The process looks like this:
$$ \text{AI Calls Restaurants} \;\; \rightarrow \;\; \text{Server Saves Info} \;\; \rightarrow \;\; \text{Food Gets Delivered} $$
What We Learned
- How to use AI to make real phone calls.
- How to connect different tools (Python, Node.js, and APIs) into one working system.
- How important it is to make things simple, so restaurants are more likely to say yes.
Challenges We Faced
- Training the AI to handle natural conversations.
- Making sure donation details were saved correctly on the server.
Why It Matters
ZeroWaste helps reduce food waste and gives homeless people meals. It shows how AI can be used to solve real problems in our communities.
Built With
- express.js
- javascript
- node.js
- python
- rest-apis
- vapi-ai
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.