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(TNS) — Two summers ago, Tushar Mehta was walking with his mother through Trexler Park in Allentown when he saw trash strewn next to a nearby dumpster. This unsightly sight sparked the idea of a freshman now at Parkland High School.
“I thought maybe they just did it because they were too lazy to put it in the trash, but they didn’t know where to put it,” said the science project idea at the time. said 14-year-old Tushar, who was thinking about “I came up with the idea of creating an app that can sort trash.”
Tushar also created RecycleBot, an application software that tells users if an item is compostable or recyclable through photo analysis. Tushar’s RecycleBot won awards at both state and local science fair competitions last December before being named Democratic Rep. Susan Wilde as the winner of her 2022 Congressional App Challenge for District 7. was awarded.
The Congressional App Challenge is an annual competition launched in 2015 for middle and high school students nationwide. It aims to promote interest in coding, computer science, and STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics).
“This is not a partisan issue at all,” said Wilde. “Generally, I think we all agree that we need to encourage students in STEM fields. Coding is clearly a huge part of today’s economy and today’s technology. .”
Each year, students submit their apps to the representative’s office, and district winners are invited to Washington, D.C. to demonstrate their apps at a spring event called House of Code.
“It’s a big achievement and definitely very good news, but in a way I think he’s really into that kind of work,” Tushar’s father, Sanjay, said of his son.
Tushar’s parents work in computer science or engineering at Air Products. They said they were excited to see their son take an interest in coding.
“At Air Products, we try to keep abreast of all new technologies, but they change rapidly,” said Sanjay Mehta. “I personally believe that there are many opportunities for children to really progress in this area, so I am happy that he is interested in this.”
Tushar’s app, for users to identify safe drinking water and for students to schedule classes and homework, beat out other local app entries.
“I consider myself an avid environmentalist, so his description of addressing environmental issues caught my eye,” said Wilde.
To use RecycleBot, upload a photo of an item and find out if it should be recycled. If RecycleBot determines that more than 50% of the item is recyclable, it should be recycled. If the compostability rate is greater than 50%, it should be disposed of in regular trash instead.
“My understanding is that people in the business of recycling materials are getting all sorts of products that shouldn’t be part of the recycling chain,” says Wild.
Tushar developed the app using the programming language Python. Ultimately, anyone can access it with a web browser. The app currently resides on a server that is not open to the public.
When a user uploads a photo of an item, the app runs a training set containing over 20,000 images of compostable or recyclable items.
Ariel Carr, an assistant professor of computer science and engineering at Lehigh University who helped judge Wilde, said: app entry.
Tushar also created a test set with around 10,000 images to make sure the app wasn’t too accurate. This allows you to recognize random items that users may upload, not just the training set images you are accustomed to analyzing. The accuracy rate of the app is over 90%.
“Not just an image, [analyzes] It’s the difference between the color and shape of the item and the actual item itself,” says Tushar.
Carr says people new to coding can think of a training set that displays pictures of their pets. Then I show you the cat and say, “This is not a dog.” … and what I just described is the training set.
“What if I show you another dog you haven’t seen yet and say, ‘What is this?'” So I should have said, “This is a dog.”
Chris Gahman, who teaches an introduction to engineering design at Parkland, says Tushar’s inquisitive nature and ability to think critically make him an adept at STEM subjects.
“He’s really good at asking questions and knows what’s the right thing to ask,” he said. We have the ability to carry out the process.”
When it comes to coding, Tushar enjoys the trial-and-error process the most.
“I feel like that motivates me to get past that stage and keep moving forward,” he said. “I also like the way it works and the way you can make your own apps. It’s so cool.”
Tushar will demonstrate RecycleBot at the Capitol in April.
©2023 Wake Up Call. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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