Team Status Report for 3/9/24

Risks:

• KV260s have yet to arrive to ECE inventory. We’ll be using an old laptop in the meantime, but it means development time won’t be spent into the KV260s until later.

Changes:

• From a usability standpoint, we’ve decided to track whether an item is entering or leaving the storage space using feature tracking.
• We also decided to have the video feed from the camera available on the app so that users can see what the cameras see and know that they are in frame.
  • We designed a phone holder that attaches to the refrigerator so that users are able to view the video feedback hands free.

Progress:

• Completed Design Report
• Front end of app almost complete
• Phone holder 3d model complete

Additional Questions:

A was written by Kelly, B was written by Michael and C was written by Sebastian.

Part A: Global Factors

In terms of accessibility, Sous-Chef is designed to accommodate all types of people in terms of price point and app compatibility across iOS and Android devices. Our app is also simple and user-friendly, making it easy to understand even for people who are not technologically savvy. Allowing recipe generation filters to select types of cuisine and dietary restrictions also allows our device to be useful for people who are looking for specific types of food.

The everyday inconveniences like forgetting about food and leaving it to go bad in your refrigerator, not knowing what to cook with the ingredients you have, and not remembering if you have certain ingredients at home while you are at the supermarket are very common in any household. This is why solutions are being created today, such as the new Samsung AI refrigerator, and apps that track your groceries. Sous-Chef allows users to optimize their grocery spending, benefiting individuals with different income levels. By encouraging responsible consumption and efficient resource utilization, the product also contributes to global efforts in promoting mindful living and responsible consumer behavior.

 

Part B: Cultural Factors

The last thing we’d want to see from Sous-Chef is for people to stop making their culture’s dishes because of the recommendations by our generator. Therefore, we’ve built in multiple ways to keep Sous-Chef culturally aware. For starters, we’re giving people the ability to add their own recipes into the app which also helps preserve the recipe so it can be easily passed down for many generations. On top of that, we’re adding in culture specific filters into our recipe creation prompt engineering, which will keep the egg fried rice ingredients from being recommended into a carbonara. Our stretch goal is to add in deep learning so that ingredients can be recognized at a much finer scale, allowing Sous-Chef to not create abominations like a Thai curry using jalapeno peppers in place of the Thai chili peppers. With these features, we think Sous-Chef not only helps keep cultures alive, but also can help people discover dishes from other cultures.

Part C: Environmental Factors

The Sous-Chef product solution is designed with environmental considerations at its core. By helping individuals effectively manage their food inventories and minimize wastage, Sous-Chef directly contributes to reducing the environmental footprint associated with food production, distribution and disposal. By preventing food from ending up in landfills, Sous-Chef helps mitigate greenhouse gas emissions generated from decomposing organic matter, thus aiding in the fight against climate change as 6-8% of all human-caused greenhouse emissions could be reduced if humans stopped wasting food [1]. Additionally, the system encourages users to make more sustainable choices by prioritizing the consumption of perishable items before they spoil and by recommending recipes that utilize available ingredients efficiently. This approach reduces food waste and promotes responsible consumption habits, ultimately conserving natural resources such as water, energy and land used in food production.

[1] https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste