Onionalyze

GIF
High-Fidelity Design (figma)

Inspiration 💡

Are you tired of scanning ingredient lists to avoid certain foods? Do you ever come across a new fruit at the market but have no idea what to cook with it? Are you curious about the nutritional value of an apple? We've been there too, and that's why we created this app. These problems are nothing new and affect everyone, from people with reduced mobility to the lazy ones who just don't want to read the whole package. Our inspiration for this app came from the growing demand for quick and easy access to information about food and nutrition. We recognized the need for a tool that could provide users with accurate and useful information about food and nutrition, all in one convenient place, and that's exactly what we created.

What it does 🤔

The app that we created here is a real game-changer when it comes to food and nutrition. With just a snap of your camera, you can take a picture of any food item, and the app will recognize what it is, providing you with a wealth of information. Not only does it give you the name of the food item, but it also gives you the option to find recipes using that food item, so you can explore new and exciting ways to enjoy your meals. If you're trying to keep track of your health and nutrition, this app is a fantastic tool to have. With its access to powerful APIs, you can easily access the nutritional values of the food you've captured, helping you make informed decisions about what you're eating. Additionally, the app can scan an ingredients list and alert the user if it contains a food item they're allergic to or trying to avoid, making it a must-have for individuals with food allergies or specific dietary requirements. Signing in with your Google account makes it even more seamless and efficient. This app is a must-have for anyone who is serious about their health, nutrition, and exploring new and exciting foods.

FigmaSnap

How we built it 🦾

Frontend: HTML, CSS, JavaFX
Backend: Python, Flask, GCP, Firebase, NodeJS
Tools: Postman, GitHub, Git
Design: Figma, Canva

Best use of Google Cloud ☁️

Firebase : We used it for authentication purposes (application safety is pivotal!) & for deployment of our webapp.
Google Cloud : Google Cloud Vision API was used for object detection. Speedy inferences and easy integration were the reasons for this choice :). For continuity, we also used Google Cloud Natural Langage API to manipulate the data.

Challenges we ran into 😤

One of the most difficult aspects was to implement all the different functionalities together, leveraging numerous technologies, and doing so within a tight timeframe (yes, even in a 36 hours hackathon). We had to ensure that the app could accurately recognize food items from images, provide recipe suggestions, and nutritional information, all while being able to scan ingredient lists and alert users about allergens and specific dietary requirements. All these features required us to use several technologies, which made the task even more challenging. On top of that, we also had to ensure that the app was easy to use, accessible, reliable, and as accurate as possible. It was a demanding project, and it was the first time using Figma for most of the team members, which added an extra layer of complexity.

Accomplishments that we're proud of ✨

We are proud of finishing the project on time which seemed like a tough task as we started working on it quite late due to other commitments. We were also able to add most of the features that we envisioned for the app during ideation. And as always, working overnight was pretty fun! :)

This project was especially an achievement for us because the experience was very different than in-person hackathons. We found that some parts were the same though - we went through heavy brainstorming and extensive research all to feel the sweet, sweet success of hitting the final pin on the board.

What we learned 🙌

Proper sleep is very important! :p Well, a lot of things, both summed up in technical & non-technical sides. Also not to mention, we enhanced our googling and Stackoverflow searching skills during the hackathon :)

What's next for Onionalyze 🚀

We believe that our App has great potential. We just really want this project to have a positive impact on people's lives! We would love to make it more scalable & cross-platform so that the user interaction increases to a great extent. Additionally, we intend to continue improving the object detection algorithm to make it seamless.