Apportunities

AnimalRecognition is an iOS application that utilizes CoreML and MapKit to analyze and recognize animals by image through machine learning. My inspiration for creating this project came from talking to others at the Cal State University Fullerton LHD hackathon and attending the Introduction to Machine Learning workshop, I was inspired to make an image recognition app through machine learning. AnimalRecognition is an animal recognition by image app that uses the CoreML framework and integrates machine learning to accurately find the subject of the image and will show this on a MKMapView. I built my iOS app with Xcode 9.1 and Swift 4. There were many challenges that I ran into while creating this app. There were various problems with type downcasting, as there are various types of data in the app, and it becomes a hassle to switch from one type to the other, and usually these switches would take me 10-15 minutes to execute. However, I am proud of many of the accomplishments and skills I found while creating this app. After scouring various Apple Developer Documentation sites, I am proud to have picked up a new skill in the CoreML iOS framework. I learned a lot from creating this app. I learned that it takes a lot of different trials and brainstorms to be able to create a functioning app. After spending a good 4 hours and brainstorming and revising itself, I understood the overwhelming time it takes to make an app like this. There is still more for AnimalRecognition. I plan to add a list of previous searches and also a description of the animals that have been recognized, so the app is more user-oriented. I also plan to expand upon the design of the app, as I plan to make it more appealing.

My name is Pratyush Muthukumar, and I am a freshman at Whitney High School. I have been interested in computer science since 4th grade, and I have been working on app development and machine learning for over 4 years. I recently attended the California State University Fullerton Hackathon, where I first started on building my project, and I won the Best Overall Hack award. Currently, I am working with a California State University Fullerton Computer and Information Systems professor to further my knowledge of machine learning and computer science. I have also created an app development organization(check it out here: https://apportunities.weebly.com), where I build apps for the companies of my community. I have built apps for a local wildlife observatory and a dentistry in Florida. I am excited to submit my project and share with the Microsoft Imagine Cup community. To learn more about me or my previous projects, feel free to check out my GitHub page at https://github.com/PannuMuthu.