WIN1201-21 Smart Pantry Application


 

Parul Raj: Project Manager/Developer

  • Graduated with a Master’s degree in computer science and engineering.
  • Fast learner who can pick things up quickly and work well with others.
  • Experience of 1.5 yrs as an Assistant Professor.

Sonali Narayani: Team Lead/Communication Manager

  • Good at leading a team and effectively transmitting knowledge to them.
  • Graduated in Computer Science and Engineering.

Jaskirat Singh Randhawa: Tester

  • Graduated in Computer Science and Engineering.
  • Understanding of the code and the ability to troubleshoot program problems

Team Name:

Techno's

Team Members Names:

Parul Raj, Sonali Narayani, Jaskirat Singh Randhawa

Program of Study:

Wireless Information Networking

Mentor Name:

Mohamed Mousa

Project Name:

Smart Pantry Application

Sponsor Name:

Kiran Prem Jagadale Mohan Rao



Sponsor Organisation:

Fleming College


Brief Description Of Project:

The Project, known as Smart Pantry, is designed to help average consumers organize pantry items by physical location, both Inventory, and itemized inventory,  as well as more effectively buying regular grocery​. Smart Pantry is a creative app for virtual kitchen helpers that focuses on helping minimize food waste for families. It keeps track of the ingredients, sets them up, and informs people from time to time when some of the ingredients are low and will be notified before they face some dissatisfaction, they will get the items back right away.​​

Project Objective:

  • This is a hardware project with the aid of a Smartphone to track the amount of each ingredient in the pantry. ​
  • When there are ingredients under the percentage level, it keeps track of any ingredient in the container and emails. ​
  • The equipment can be used privately at homes as well as in small grocery stores.​

Project Innovation:

  • This project includes the design, programming, implementing and testing of hardware project.
  • The project is based on Raspberry pi which takes data from sensors and redirect it to AWS server.
  • Implemented force sensitive resistors in the boxes which detects the current weight of the pantry.
  • Temperature sensors are used to show the current temperature of the pantry.
  • Used AWS server to store the current weight and temperature of pantry and reflect it on Mobile/Web App
  • System also gives an email alert with the minimum percentage of ingredients which is less than 150g.
  • The System must be in sync in order to display the pantry’s current weight and temperature.
  • Smart pantry system  cuts down on food waste and allows for better organization of food.

Challenges & Solutions:

  • The major challenge we faced as a team was to firstly arrange all the hardware components on time as our project requires a variety of components.
  • During the Covid pandemic, we faced a lot of problems finding and purchasing hardware parts. The Solution to this was we used all the simulations on the fritzing application that makes it very easy to communicate about circuits.
  • The fritzing application kept on crashing, sometimes our data could not get saved and we even have to do the connections again from the start. However, we found because of wrong connections it crashes.
  • The MCP3008 we got from college was PCB-based which requires a lot of soldering, later we ordered the right mcp3008 from college.
  • Knowledge of a lot of different programming languages was required at once. The command over some languages was weak, so we learned all languages to the core.
  • We faced problems with databases and we have to change them one by one in order to get the best suitable for storage. In the end, we selected Postman and AWS servers.
  • API took a lot of time to connect hardware to the software and we were facing a lot of errors, In the end, we took some help from the internet and youtube to overcome this problem.
  • We also face errors in coding during the android development application as we cannot send the alerts through email, we redesigned our android application in order to get it free from errors.

Project Results or Progress:

  • Shows the current weight and Temperature of the ingredients in the containers.
  • Signup and login options in mobile and Web App.
  • Logging into system that shows the display page of the current pantry.
  • Displays the four different containers with the images, current weight and temperature.
  • Refresh button for continuous update in the pantry.
  • Alert in the App.
  • Email alert for the minimum percentage left in the pantry.
  • Sync between hardware and Mobile Application.
  • Management of AWS server.

Lessons Learned:

  • Learned that hardware can be accessed remotely and load programs into it.
  • Learnt about Raspberry Pi, different models and it’s pins.
  • Connections of hardware components are bit difficult task.
  • Testing Raspbian with codes and hardware needs lot of troubleshooting every time
  • How to incorporate Python programming and put it into action on hardware.
  • Java programming for Android App.
  • Deploying AWS server and management of it.
  • Researched different platform for API and chose Postman best suitable for our project.

Short Video: