About Scanimals
The Scanimals app is an interactive and educational mobile application designed for children. Using your device's camera, the app allows users to scan animals and provides them with information about the animal.
The Problem
Currently, there are similar apps out there on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store that have the same functionality as Scanimals. However, there were multiple glaring issues within the majority of the sample apps we tested. Firstly, many of these apps have implemented a paywall, which limits user access to the full functionality of the app. This occurs in limiting the usage of the app to the user in the form of limited scans per day or limited time usage (i.e. a week) before prompting users to pay for a subscription in order to continue usage.
In regards to the details that are displayed upon a scan, we also found an issue where the text was far too dense. The density of the descriptions are an issue since the text can be far too advanced for our target demographic to comprehend.
Lastly, other apps have no filtering system for animals or a way to create personalized folders of the user's scanned animals. Other apps have no filtering system making it hard for users to navigate to a specific animal that they are searching for. Furthermore, without the ability to create personalized folders, users are unable to organize their collection of photos which undermines the core objective of the project.
The Solution
Scanimals aims to foster learning in children about animals around the world and their environment through a quickly accessible and easy-to-use app on their devices. Outside the core functionality of providing users with information about a scanned animal, we plan to incorporate a wikipedia section of other various animals. Through this app, users will be able to expand their knowledge, possibly nurture their love for animals, and develop a deeper understanding of the planet's biodiversity.
Platforms
The Scanimals App will be available for free to download on the Apple App Store for iOS and iPadOS devices with full free access to all of the app's features.
Frameworks and Technologies
Creating Scanimals will require the following frameworks and technologies:
| Technology/Framework | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Swift/SwiftUI | For iOS and iPad development |
| Vision | Capture and Process Images |
| CreateML | For training pre-existing ML models (MobileNet) |
| CoreML | For deploying trained model to Scanimals |
| MobileNet | A lightweight model for real-time animal recognition |
| DistillBart | A lightweight LLM used for text summaries |