Turty

Turty!

Inspiration

College students living in dorms often face environmental challenges that can impact their health, comfort, and productivity. Dorm rooms frequently have limited ventilation, which can lead to high humidity, poor air quality, and uncomfortable living conditions.

Research from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) shows that mold growth becomes much more likely when indoor humidity exceeds 60%. High humidity combined with warm temperatures creates ideal conditions for mold to grow on materials such as drywall, ceilings, and furniture.

Students also frequently deal with noisy environments, irregular sleep schedules, and social situations involving alcohol, all of which can influence both physical and mental well-being.

Dorm environments can also present additional safety concerns related to flammable or hazardous gases, especially in cases of leaks, chemical exposure, or poor ventilation. Most dorm safety devices only react after something dangerous has already happened. We wanted to create a system that helps students recognize risks before they become serious problems.

This inspired us to create Turty, an AI-powered turtle companion that monitors environmental conditions and health signals in a dorm room and provides meaningful insights to help students maintain a safer and healthier living environment.

What it does

Turty is an AI-powered dorm guardian that monitors both the room environment and the student.

Turty collects real-time data from sensors that track:

temperature and humidity
explosive and combustible gas levels in the air
sound spikes that indicate activity in the room
alcohol detection
heart rate
facial recognition for occupancy awareness

Instead of simply displaying raw sensor readings, Turty uses AI analysis to interpret the data and generate helpful insights.

Mold Risk Detection

Turty analyzes humidity and temperature to identify environmental conditions that may allow mold to grow.

According to the EPA, mold growth becomes significantly more likely when indoor humidity rises above 60%. When high humidity is combined with warm temperatures and poor airflow, dorm rooms can become much more likely to support mold growth on surfaces such as walls, ceilings, furniture, and fabrics.

Turty does not directly detect mold spores. Instead, it monitors the environmental conditions that make mold growth more likely and warns the user before those conditions persist for too long.

Example environmental condition:

Humidity: 65%
Temperature elevated
Poor ventilation likely

Possible Turty insight:
"Humidity levels are high and room conditions may support mold growth if airflow is not improved."

Hazardous and Explosive Gas Awareness

Turty also improves dorm safety by monitoring for flammable and potentially explosive gases in the air.

The MQ-series gas sensor is used to detect dangerous gas buildup, including gases such as:

methane
propane
butane
LPG
smoke and other combustible gas byproducts

This allows Turty to act as an early warning system for hazardous air conditions that may indicate a leak, combustion risk, or other serious safety issue.

Example sensor combination:

Combustible gas detected
Gas concentration rising
Occupant detected

Possible Turty response:
"Warning: combustible gas detected in the room. Please ventilate the area and check for possible hazards."

Alcohol and Heart-Rate Awareness

Turty also provides health awareness by combining alcohol detection with heart-rate monitoring.

A normal adult resting heart rate is 60-100 BPM according to the American Heart Association. Heart rates above 100 BPM are classified as tachycardia.

Alcohol consumption can significantly affect the cardiovascular system. Research shows alcohol can trigger elevated heart rate and arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, sometimes referred to as holiday heart syndrome.

Turty detects alcohol vapor using the MQ-3 alcohol sensor and combines that data with heart-rate measurements to provide contextual health insights.

Example sensor combination:

Alcohol detected
Heart rate: 110 BPM
Occupant detected

Possible Turty response:
"Elevated heart rate detected alongside alcohol consumption. Please consider resting and staying hydrated."

Context Awareness

Turty determines whether someone is present using:

facial recognition via camera
sound spikes detected by the microphone

This allows Turty to determine whether a situation should trigger urgent alerts.

Alert System

Turty continuously displays environmental information on its screen.

However, when a significant safety risk is detected, Turty activates:

audible alarm
spoken warning

These alerts allow the user to recognize problems without needing to constantly check the display.

Turty also uses ElevenLabs voice synthesis so the turtle can communicate warnings and insights.

How we built it

Turty combines hardware sensing, AI interpretation, and interactive feedback.

Hardware

The system uses several sensors to monitor both the environment and the occupant.

Temperature & Humidity Sensor

monitors environmental comfort
identifies conditions that may support mold growth

Gas Sensor (MQ-Series)

detects combustible and explosive gases in the air
responds to gases such as methane, propane, butane, and LPG
helps identify potentially dangerous gas buildup indoors

MQ-3 Alcohol Sensor

detects alcohol vapor from breath

Heart-Rate Sensor

provides physiological context

Microphone Sensor

detects sudden sound spikes indicating activity

Camera Module

performs facial recognition for occupancy awareness

Software

Turty integrates several software components:

Gemini AI

analyzes sensor data
generates environmental insights

ElevenLabs

provides voice synthesis for Turty's spoken responses

Real-time Dashboard

displays environmental readings
shows AI-generated insights

Together these components allow Turty to continuously monitor the dorm environment and translate sensor data into meaningful guidance.

Challenges we ran into

One challenge was determining how to combine multiple sensor readings without triggering unnecessary alarms.

Environmental data fluctuates naturally, so we designed logic that focuses on patterns and combinations of signals rather than reacting to single sensor spikes.

This was especially important because high humidity does not always mean mold will grow immediately, and a gas sensor reading does not always mean there is an immediate emergency. We wanted Turty to provide useful warnings without constantly overreacting.

Another challenge involved occupancy detection. A camera can only detect someone when they are within its field of view. To address this limitation, we combined:

facial recognition
microphone-based activity detection

This allows Turty to infer when someone may still be present.

We also carefully designed the alcohol detection feature so it functions as a health awareness tool rather than a monitoring system, ensuring the system remains supportive and non-invasive.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

building a multi-sensor AI system that monitors environmental and physiological signals
implementing sensor fusion to interpret real-world conditions
designing Turty as a friendly dorm companion rather than just a monitoring device
converting raw sensor readings into clear insights and actionable recommendations
integrating AI analysis, hardware sensing, voice interaction, and visual alerts into one cohesive system
expanding the system to include awareness of potential gas-related safety hazards

What we learned

Through this project we learned that the value of a sensing system comes from how the data is interpreted, not simply how many sensors are included.

Environmental signals become much more meaningful when combined with human signals, including:

heart rate
presence detection
activity indicators

We also learned that safety systems must balance:

accuracy
usability
clarity

so alerts are helpful without becoming overwhelming.

We also learned that different sensors serve different purposes. In Turty's case, the temperature and humidity sensor helps identify mold-supporting conditions, while the gas sensor is better suited for detecting combustible gas hazards.

What's next for Turty

In the future we would like to expand Turty into a more advanced dorm wellness system.

Possible improvements include:

improving occupancy detection using wider-angle cameras or motion sensors
improving mold-risk analysis using long-term humidity and temperature trends
adding additional air-quality sensors such as CO2 or particulate matter sensors
improving hazardous gas detection with more specialized sensors for different gas types
enabling mobile notifications so users receive alerts even when away from their dorm
expanding Turty's AI capabilities to provide more advanced environmental recommendations

Our long-term goal is for Turty to become a smart dorm companion that helps students maintain healthier, safer, and more comfortable living environments.

References

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Mold and Indoor Air Quality
Korpi, A., Järnberg, J., & Pasanen, A. (2009). Microbial volatile organic compounds. Critical Reviews in Toxicology.
Voskoboinik, A. et al. (2016). Alcohol and Atrial Fibrillation. Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
American Heart Association — Normal Heart Rate Guidelines