Executive Summary
Course Theme: Reimagining Food Ecosystem Innovation
There is a significant opportunity to alter the way we treat food waste in order to reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and in turn create a more sustainable world. As facilitated by the ME 290H curriculum, we sought to develop innovative solutions to reduce food waste and its associated impacts throughout the food ecosystem life cycle. With our team focusing on issues related to the restaurant and retail industry we will identify product opportunity gaps related to the processing and consumption phases of the cycle. We concluded by developing a waste scanner which fills a necessary product opportunity gap aimed at increasing the efficacy of waste services at restaurants.
There is a significant opportunity to alter the way we treat food waste in order to reduce pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and in turn create a more sustainable world. As facilitated by the ME 290H curriculum, we sought to develop innovative solutions to reduce food waste and its associated impacts throughout the food ecosystem life cycle. With our team focusing on issues related to the restaurant and retail industry we will identify product opportunity gaps related to the processing and consumption phases of the cycle. We concluded by developing a waste scanner which fills a necessary product opportunity gap aimed at increasing the efficacy of waste services at restaurants.
I am excited to share the story of Andrew Scott Meyers (a student of University of California ) and his colleagues who used #ImageAI to power an Intelligent Waste Management project at the just concluded UC Berkeley Design Innovation showcase that took place on Wednesday...1/4 pic.twitter.com/8J8HfsuCBa
— Olafenwa Moses (@OlafenwaMoses) May 11, 2019
Reflection
This project based course exceeded my expectations in terms content, assignments, and the resulting project. I initially signed up for the course hoping to unite my passion of having a sustainable personal impact and with my product design background. In my previous product/project-based courses, I would dive into the technical details within weeks of the semester, engineer a half baked solution by the middle, and fabricate a final product by the end. ME 290H challenged this notion by taking a step back and narrowing in on the intricacies of product development. I feel much more comfortable about how I would approach developing a product in the real world, and one of my biggest takeaways is the importance of understanding the context of why a product need does not currently exist and how the influence its creation may have. I believe these skill transcend beyond entirely original product development cycles and can be of use when considering improvements to already existing assemblies such as in the consumer electronics and automotive industries.
During this course I was exposed to a set of research that was truly captivating and pertinent as our food waste related findings were being considered in Berkeley's legal plan immediately and near future (Zero Waste 2020). When uncovering a POG I was truly passionate about, I was excited to begin searching for solutions, and the idea of a waste scanner device was a natural result of the investigation. I heavily encouraged the development of a camera-based scanner solution in time for the show-case, as I felt it would hold much more merit when asserting the product's ease, usefulness, and potential. As our demo was well-received I began to get more attached to our idea and began to formally consider cultivating it into something valuable and/or profitable by following up with industry contacts that were brought to my attention during our showcase and considering the best approach to sharing our platform. The creator of the state-of-the-art ImageAI software was exceedingly delighted about our sustainable take on his work, and has offered/requested twice if he can write an article to publicize it. I am a huge advocate of open-source computing and know that this product can benefit largely from it, but in the meantime I am hoping to patent the idea regardless of profit-based incentives.
I am extremely pleased with the journey this course took me on and am excited to direct other graduate students towards taking it next year.
During this course I was exposed to a set of research that was truly captivating and pertinent as our food waste related findings were being considered in Berkeley's legal plan immediately and near future (Zero Waste 2020). When uncovering a POG I was truly passionate about, I was excited to begin searching for solutions, and the idea of a waste scanner device was a natural result of the investigation. I heavily encouraged the development of a camera-based scanner solution in time for the show-case, as I felt it would hold much more merit when asserting the product's ease, usefulness, and potential. As our demo was well-received I began to get more attached to our idea and began to formally consider cultivating it into something valuable and/or profitable by following up with industry contacts that were brought to my attention during our showcase and considering the best approach to sharing our platform. The creator of the state-of-the-art ImageAI software was exceedingly delighted about our sustainable take on his work, and has offered/requested twice if he can write an article to publicize it. I am a huge advocate of open-source computing and know that this product can benefit largely from it, but in the meantime I am hoping to patent the idea regardless of profit-based incentives.
I am extremely pleased with the journey this course took me on and am excited to direct other graduate students towards taking it next year.