Inspiration
We wanted to make cleaning the planet fun. Picking up litter is one of the simplest ways to make an impact, but it’s often overlooked. Litterly gamifies sustainability and turns small, real-world actions into meaningful progress.
What it does
Users start with a single seed. By scanning litter they’ve picked up outside and in their hand, Litterly’s AI verifies the image and awards points based on what type of litter it is. As users earn points, their seed grows into a tree. Once it reaches full growth, it’s added to their virtual garden.
Each tree has a rarity from common oaks to rare cherry blossoms which encourages users to keep collecting and growing. For every tree grown in-app, our team pledges to plant a real tree in the world.
How we built it
Honestly, we vibe-coded most of it. We started with the core idea, then experimented our way forward connecting pieces until it worked. We started with making the mock design on Figma and then figuring out what functions we wanted to incorporate in the app. Making use of Google AI Studio and through trial and error, we were able to bring our vision to life.
Challenges we ran into
Our biggest challenge was designing an AI prompt that accurately distinguishes between litter that’s picked up versus litter on the ground, and that recognizes outdoor settings. We iterated heavily on our prompt engineering to align the model’s output with our intended gameplay loop.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
We built a functioning prototype that can identify litter types, verify valid cleanup actions, and visualize the growth of trees based on user activity. We’re especially proud that the app blends AI, gamification, and environmental impact into a working experience.
What we learned
We learned how to refine AI prompts to get consistent, structured outputs that work within our app’s logic. We also learned about Google AI Studio and computer vision.
What's next for Litterly
Sign-up/login system to track user progress.
- “Litter Board” leaderboard to showcase top collectors and inspire friendly competition.
- Community goals where users can collaborate to unlock global rewards.
- Real-world partnerships with environmental groups to plant actual trees for every virtual one grown.
Our goal is to make sustainability engaging, social, and rewarding — one piece of litter at a time.
Log in or sign up for Devpost to join the conversation.