Introduction

With the growing poverty all around you, do you ever just want to donate some of your old stuff or maybe some food/ration but you don’t because it is too much work and you have no way of doing it easily? 

That is exactly how almost every 3rd person in India would say. How do we solve this? 

We can solve this by providing an easy-to-use, reliable and trustable platform for people to easily donate stuff from their homes/workplaces. That is exactly what I present to you. 

Problem

Firstly, people do not have enough time in today’s busy world to specially go out and donate things that they want to. Even if they are willing to go out and donate, they are not aware of the places that they can go to, i.e there is limited connectivity between the donors and the underprivileged. There is a lack of awareness among the people regarding the donation categories and the things that can be donated. These people are also skeptical of the legitimacy of some of the private NGOs, i.e. there is a lack of transparency. 

In short, there is not a single reliable platform for the people to depend on. This is the reason that most of the stuff that people want to donate, goes to waste.

Solution

I present to you “Deasyy”. It is an easy-to-use and reliable AI and Video-based mobile application that can be used for donations. This app uses the video feature from both the donor and the PoC (Point of Contact) of an NGO to establish the mutual trust factor that was previously missing. The variety of donation categories creates awareness for the people to donate stuff they previously didn’t know about. Now people do not have to move from their houses, and can just initiate a donation from their houses. This has tripled the number of donations that were being previously done. Connecting PoCs with people also eliminates the problem of less connectivity. Thus, providing the people with a platform that provides a transparent medium to donate, eliminates the currently present problems.

Working

Deasyy connects the donors to the point of contacts (PoCs) from different NGOs. The donors initiate donations by providing the details of the donation. Next, they take a picture or video of the donation. The PoC can check this video/picture to confirm the credibility and quality of the donation. This creates the first layer of trust between the PoC and the donor. To complete the initiation, the donor sets the date/time of the donation.

Once a donation is initiated, the ML-based engine present in the app assigns the available PoC to that donation. The PoC then picks up the donation at the designated time and date. Once the PoC reaches the end beneficiaries to give them the donation, the PoC takes a picture of the donation reaching the underprivileged. This picture can be seen by the donor. This creates a second level of transparency between the donor and the PoC. 

Result

The increasing donations on all fronts have definitely helped the underprivileged. Now the stuff that used to go in bins actually goes to the places where people can use them. This app was piloted in several underprivileged localities of Delhi-NCR. The results are nothing but positive. 

The regular food drives ensure a consistent food supply for these needy people. This saves their money and provides them with the nutritious food that their bodies require. People also donate other stuff like books and stationery which helps the underprivileged children to study and go to school. People donate their old footwear and clothing, which helps these people a lot. Several restaurants are also willing to donate in drives and that will surely make a difference. Overall more donations have improved the quality of life for these people and helped them a lot. 

Special Features

This app also provides some special features. 

The emergency SOS system can be used by these underprivileged people during times of medical emergencies. This can include the need for blood, medicines, or any other resources. This feature allows people to immediately respond to the call and help the needy. 

The group donation system is another interesting feature of this app. People can add their rations together so that all the collected rations can be picked up and distributed collectively. This is basically useful when big drives are planned. 

The birthday cheers feature allows people to give snacks to underprivileged children for their birthdays. People can check the calendar for upcoming birthdays and can accordingly donate snacks and other things.

Technology Used

One of the key components of the Deasyy Application is AIDPE (AI-based Donation Prediction Engine) which includes two functions: 

a) Efficient PoC/Associate Allocation: Predicts and allocates the appropriate PoC/Associate for input donation(s) in the specific area based on area score, donation request score, pick-up schedule score, associate score, and Donor score 

b) Adaptive Video Upload and Download Processing: Before uploading the video, the frontend compresses the data through transcoding. Using AIDPE, based on the user’s device and the donation request, the video is converted to the most suitable codecs and triggers the Adaptive Bit Rate (ABR) Engine by providing versions of best-suited quality and lower versions. The ABR engine then checks the device’s internet capability and streams data on the most optimal bitrate to provide a seamless experience.

For more details on the technical aspect, please find the full research paper on the IEEE explore. 

Links and References

IEEE explore research paper link: ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/9753693

Website: deasyy.com/

Instagram: instagram.com/deasyy_donation_app?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

You can download this app and use it. It is available on both Appstore and Playstore.